A RARE GILT-BRONZE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER

Details

A RARE GILT-BRONZE TRIPOD CENSER AND COVER
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY

The thin-walled, globular body raised on tripod supports and set with two vertically slit upright handles of rectangular section on the shoulder just below the rim, the inner rim canted and slightly curved to accommodate a shallow, domed cover applied with three, slender, scrolls which act as legs when the cover is inverted, the exterior gilded, with some pale turquoise encrustation, some restoration, crack--7½in. (19.1cm.) across handles

Lot Essay

Compare the very similar vessel excavated from the Western Han tomb no. 6 at Yuci, Shanxi province, illustrated in Wenwu 1974, no. 12, p. 70, fig. 15, and another ding of this type, Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, 1989, no. 198