Page 48 - CHRISTIE'S Marchant Nine Decades of Chinese Art 09/14/17

MARCHANT: NINE DECADES IN CHINESE ART

709 A RARE BRONZE CENSER WITH
PHOENIX HANDLES

MING DYNASTY, 15TH-17TH CENTURY

Of bombé-form, the body is fanked by two handles shaped as
phoenix-heads fnely cast with detailed feathers on the curving
necks and outspread wings that extend around the sides of
the censer. The base is cast with a six-character Xuande mark
recessed within a rectangle.
7¬ in. (19.4 cm.) wide across the handles
$15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE

Private collection, West Country, England.
The phoenix handles of this censer are very rare, both in
subject matter and for the attractively simplifed and stylized
rendering of the heads and feathers. For a related censer with
phoenix-head handles, cast in a more familiar yet elaborate
style with detailed plumage and sinuous necks, in the Musée
Cernuschi, see M. Maucuer, Bronzes de la Chine impériale des
Song aux Qing, Lavaur, 2013 p. 127, no. 74.

明十五/十七世紀 銅鳳耳爐

(mark)

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