WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)

Details

A BRONZE CYLINDRICAL CENSER WITH CRANES
WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)
Of cylindrical form, the censer is raised on three low, stepped supports, and cast on the exterior with nine cranes in flight amidst clouds on a stippled ground. The base is cast with the four-character mark, Hu Wenming zhi ('Made by Hu Wenming').
3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Private collection, Wiltshire, England.

Lot Essay

A related cylindrical censer cast with a landscape scene and with a six-character Hu Wenming mark is illustrated by R. Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pls. 51-53, p. 67. Another censer cast with the 'Three Friends of Winter', but with a stippled ground like that on the present censer, is illustrated by P. Moss, The Second Bronze Age, Hong Kong, 1991, no. 50.

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