17TH-18TH CENTURY

Compare three bronze tripod censers of similar form and proportions and with similar handles, but of smaller size, illustrated in Jin Yu Qing Yan: Yang Ping Zhen Xian Sheng Zhen Cang Ming Qing Tong Lu (Golden Jade and Green Smoke: Mr. Yang Ping Zhen's Collection of Ming and Qing Bronze Censers), National Museum of History, 1996, pp. 117-20, nos. 14 (23.2 cm.), 15 (26 cm.), and no. 17 (25.6 cm.). Like the current censer, nos. 14 and 15 bear apocryphal Xuande marks, but which are set within rectangular cartouches. The two-character Xuande mark flanked by a pair of descending dragons set within a bracket-lobed medallion of the current censer is very unusual.