A Parcel-Gilt Bronze Bombé Censer

YUNJIAN HU WENMING ZHI GILDED MARK IN INTAGLIO WITHIN A RECTANGLE, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

細節

A Parcel-Gilt Bronze Bombé Censer
Yunjian Hu Wenming Zhi Gilded Mark in Intaglio within a Rectangle, Late 16th/Early 17th Century
Cast in low relief with a middle register of mythical sea creatures (haishou) amidst a background of wind-tossed waves, between a band of babao on the waisted neck above and a band of foliate scroll encircling the foot, the pair of loop handles in the form of a monster devouring its own hairy body, all highlighted in gilding against a finely ring-punched ground
8½in. (21.6cm.) across handles

拍品專文

A similar censer with the same maker's mark in seal-script (zhuanshu) in a vertical rather than horizontal configuration is in the Robert Clague Collection and illustrated by R. Mowry, China's Renaissance in Bronze, Phoenix Art Museum, 1993, pp. 67-73, no. 12. The upper band of decoration on the cited example is highly stylized birds and a butterfly motif. The author notes that Hu Wenming was the most famous bronze caster of the late Ming period and goes on to discuss the complexity and meaning of the various elements of the decoration.