A VERY RARE FAMILLE VERTE SQUARE INCENSE BURNER AND COVER

LATE MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

細節

A VERY RARE FAMILLE VERTE SQUARE INCENSE BURNER AND COVER
LATE MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Formed as a square platform decorated on the sides with foliate sprays and on top with diaper pattern surrounding a square trough at the base of a high-walled receptacle which rises from the center, the cover decorated with alternating figural scenes of boys at play, and scholars followed by boy attendants, each carrying a qin, the top pierced with two small apertures positioned beneath the hollow body of the buddhistic lion and the reticulated brocade ball held under its paw, all in a famille verte palette enhanced by turquoise and pale aubergine
5 3/8 in. (13.8 cm.) high, Japanese wood box

來源

Kaikodo, New York.

出版

Kaikodo Journal, Autumn 1999, pp. 236-7, no. 67

展覽

New York, Kaikodo, Autumn 1999, no. 67.

拍品專文

The wood box bears the characters 'Nankin nishikide shishi futa moto kmoro' (Nanjing, overglaze-enamel lion-topped incense burner). 'Nankin' is the Japanese pronunciation of Nanjing, the point of export for such ceramics. However, these ceramics would have been made either in Jiangxi or Fujian, and the present example appears to be a product of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi. Its color scheme suggests that it was a precursor to the famille verte porcelains that would develop soon after. The geometric shape is closely related to other late Ming ceramics. See a Wanli mark and period blue and white square incense burner with mythical beast finial illustrated in A Special Exhibition of Incense Burners and Perfumers Throughout the Dynasties, Taipei, 1994, pl. 206, fig. 61. See, also, the related hexagonal container and cover painted in a similar style and palette with scenes of scholars and boy attendants, which also has a similar hollowed lion finial on the cover, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, British Museum, 2001, p. 404, no. 12:130. As the lion finial is hollow, it is possible this vessel was also made for burning incense.