CHENGHUA SIX-CHARACTER CAST MARK AND PROBABLY OF THE PERIOD (1465-1487)

Bronze vessels with Chenghua marks and of the period are exceptionally rare. In fact, Soame Jenyns himself acknowledges this point in Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, London, 1963, p. 137, where it is mentioned that it is unusual to find reign marks other than Xuande on Ming bronzes. With this in mind, it is interesting to see two such examples of Ming bronze vessels without Xuande marks (the current lot with Chenghua mark and lot 21 with Zhengde mark) in Soame Jenyn's personal collection. It is evident that the bronze pieces in this collection not only reflect Jenyn's taste but also his academic interests.

A few other examples of bronze vessels with Chenghua marks are known, all of which display the same characteristic 'S'-form handles seen on the current censer.
See a censer which is almost identical to the current one sold at Sotheby's New York, 21 March 2015, lot 743.
An important gold and silver wire-inlaid censer attributed to the 'Wan family' and of Chenghua mark and period, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 158.
See also a Chenghua mark and period censer with very similar mythical beast head-form feet, sold at Christie's London, 6 November 2012, lot 169; and another example also with comparable feet but of square ding-form, sold at Christie's London 14 May 2013, lot 167.