Page 399 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

The dynamic scene of dragons amidst waves is
a Xuande innovation, visible on porcelain and
lacquer of the period, and the finely cast, high-
relief decoration on both these incense burners
and covers is evocative of that era. This is a type
of incense burner where there has been debate
as to whether the Xuande marks are apocryphal
or not. A tripod bronze incense burner of similar
casting style and iconography in the National
Palace Museum, Taiwan was catalogued as
Xuande mark and period in 1979 by Zhang
Guangyuan in his extensive work ‘Liujin jingdiao
Da Ming Xuande lu’, published in the National
Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, part
1, April, 1979, pp. 62-77 and part 2, May, 1979,
pp. 96-106. However, it is now apparent that
the whole group of incense burners of this form
date to the late Ming dynasty. A closely related
example, dated seventeenth century, sold in our
Paris rooms, 16th December 2010, lot 266.

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