A VERY RARE GUAN LOBED TRIPOD CENSER
A VERY RARE GUAN LOBED TRIPOD CENSER
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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A VERY RARE GUAN LOBED TRIPOD CENSER

SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)

Details
A VERY RARE GUAN LOBED TRIPOD CENSER
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
The bulbous body is potted with three lobes and a raised band on the shoulder, supported on three cabriole feet, rising to a slightly lipped rim, the handles now missing. It is covered overall with a thick, crackled glaze of greyish-green tone, thinning to a purplish colour at the rim. The base with six small spur marks in a circle, the bottom of feet unglazed, revealing the dark grey body.
4 ½ in. (11.4 cm.) wide, box
Provenance
Collection of Mrs. Enid Lodge and the late F. Brodie Lodge, Esq
Sold at Sotheby’s London, 14 March 1972, lot 97
The J.T. Tai Collection
Informing the Eye of the Collector: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from J.T. Tai & Co., sold at Sotheby’s New York, 22 March 2011, lot 183
Exhibited
On loan to the Williams Hayes Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Oriental Ceramic Society, Ju and Kuan Wares - Imperial Wares of the Sung Dynasty, Related Wares and Derivatives of Later Date, London, 12th November - 13th December 1952, no. 71

Brought to you by

Priscilla Kong
Priscilla Kong

Lot Essay

The unusual form of the present censer, characterised by a bulbous lobed body supported on three short feet, is modelled after the archaic bronze li vessel. The thick, opaque crackled glaze and six small spur marks arranged in a circle on the underside of the current lot are typical of censers made at the Southern Song guan kilns in Hangzhou, such as a tripod censer excavated at the Laohudong guan kiln, potted with a more rounded body but with similar raised bands on the shoulder and six spur marks on the base, illustrated in Hangzhou laohudong yaozhi ciqi jingxuan, Hangzhou, 2002, no. 75.
Compare also to a guan bluish-celadon glazed censer, also with short cabriole feet and raised bands on the shoulder, dating to the Southern Song dynasty, in the Seikado Collection in Tokyo and illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 12, Song, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 76; and a ge tripod censer with long, straight feet, also bearing six circular spur marks on the underside, in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, no. 153.

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