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Lot Essay
The censer is delicately potted with thin, rounded walls and is applied on the exterior with layers of finely incised lotus petals, raised on a bulbous stem supported by a domed base which is further decorated with lotus petals.
Song dynasty poets and painters had high regard for incense burning, believe it capable of dissipating negative emotions and stimulating artistic creativity. As a result, tasteful censers with intricate features were produced and used as part of luxurious domestic furnishings. The present censer, with its complex construction and fine details, is a representative example.
Vessels with such delicate details were prone to distortion during the firing process, hence their rarity. Compare to a Ding censer similarly modelled with lotus petals and with a cover in the form of mandarin ducks, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2019, lot 3059. Ru wares of lotus form are also known; such as a censer discovered at the Qingliangsi Ru kiln, Baofeng County, Hennan province, now in the Collection of the Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Henan Province, illustrated in Selection of Ru Ware; The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2015, p. 121, pl.46.
Song dynasty poets and painters had high regard for incense burning, believe it capable of dissipating negative emotions and stimulating artistic creativity. As a result, tasteful censers with intricate features were produced and used as part of luxurious domestic furnishings. The present censer, with its complex construction and fine details, is a representative example.
Vessels with such delicate details were prone to distortion during the firing process, hence their rarity. Compare to a Ding censer similarly modelled with lotus petals and with a cover in the form of mandarin ducks, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2019, lot 3059. Ru wares of lotus form are also known; such as a censer discovered at the Qingliangsi Ru kiln, Baofeng County, Hennan province, now in the Collection of the Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Henan Province, illustrated in Selection of Ru Ware; The Palace Museum’s Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2015, p. 121, pl.46.