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Lot Essay
Developing as early as the Tang dynasty, the striking form of this vessel is believed to have evolved from metal prototypes. Although no metal vessel of this type appears to have survived in China, bronze vessels of this exact shape have been preserved in Korea, an example of which is illustrated by Y. Mino and K. R. Tsiang, Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indianapolis, 1981, p. 72, fig. 55.
Mino also illustrates two paintings dating to the Song dynasty in which similarly shaped vessels are depicted, ibid., p. 72, figs. 53 and 54. One painting depicts a metal vessel of this form with a pierced metal cover placed on a round offering table in front of the Buddha's throne. The other painting depicts a procession of foreign envoys, among them a clean-shaven man holding in his hands a gold-colored vessel of this shape decorated with scroll designs. These paintings appear to confirm that at least some vessels of this shape were intended to function as censers.
Vessels with similarly stepped bases and relatively narrow rims in proportion to the diameter of the mouth, have been excavated from the Guanti kiln, Cixian, Hebei province and illustrated in Guanti Cizhou Yaozhi, Beijing, 1997, pl. XIX, 6. Compare, also, two very similar vessels, but of slightly smaller size, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, 28, Shanxi taoci, Shanghai, 1984, fig. 28, and Zhongguo taoci daxi, Song Yuan taoci daquan, Taipei, 1988, p. 230.
Mino also illustrates two paintings dating to the Song dynasty in which similarly shaped vessels are depicted, ibid., p. 72, figs. 53 and 54. One painting depicts a metal vessel of this form with a pierced metal cover placed on a round offering table in front of the Buddha's throne. The other painting depicts a procession of foreign envoys, among them a clean-shaven man holding in his hands a gold-colored vessel of this shape decorated with scroll designs. These paintings appear to confirm that at least some vessels of this shape were intended to function as censers.
Vessels with similarly stepped bases and relatively narrow rims in proportion to the diameter of the mouth, have been excavated from the Guanti kiln, Cixian, Hebei province and illustrated in Guanti Cizhou Yaozhi, Beijing, 1997, pl. XIX, 6. Compare, also, two very similar vessels, but of slightly smaller size, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, 28, Shanxi taoci, Shanghai, 1984, fig. 28, and Zhongguo taoci daxi, Song Yuan taoci daquan, Taipei, 1988, p. 230.