AN UNUSUAL BRONZE INCENSE BURNER WITH FIGURAL SUPPORT AND A COVER, BOSHANLU

HAN DYNASTY

Details

AN UNUSUAL BRONZE INCENSE BURNER WITH FIGURAL SUPPORT AND A COVER, BOSHANLU
Han Dynasty
The boshanlu comprising a pierced cover in the shape of a mountain range decorated with wild animals and human figures on an inverted domed base encircled by a double band of cloud-form motifs separated by a single ribbed band, the entire burner raised aloft on the right arm of a strong man with broad features, neatly coiffed hair and a naked torso crouching on a feline beast with mouth open in a roar, the base of plain saucer form with a wide lip
10in. (26cm.) high

Lot Essay

One of the first datable boshanlu was excavated from the tombs at Mancheng, Hebei, of Liu Sheng (died 113 B. C.) and his wife Dou Wan. The example from Liu Sheng's tomb, made without a dish, was inlaid in gold. The boshanlu found in Dou Wan's tomb is very closely related to the present example, with a figural support seated on a dragon-like creature, now in the Hebei Provincial Museum and illustrated by Jessica Rawson in the exhibition Catalogue, Mysteries of Ancient China, British Museum, London, 1996, p. 172, no. 82; see, also William Watson, Art of Dynastic China, New York, 1981, fig. 294 for the same figure.

Another similar boshanlu, presumably missing its dish, in the collection of Mrs. Christian Holmes included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy, London, 1935-36, Catalogue, no. 394 and now in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, is illustrated by J. Fontein and Tung Wu in the Catalogue of the exhibition, Unearthing China's Past, Boston, 1973, p. 106.