Page 118 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Junkunc Collection

230 A SPLENDID AND RARE GOLD AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE CENSER
HAN DYNASTY
漢 銅錯金銀幾何紋熏爐

the deep rounded sides supported on a tall splayed foot, set around the body with a raised band decorated with two registers
of meshed double chevrons inlaid with silver and divided by a raised fillet, all above pendent triangular lappets, the domed
cover well cast in openwork with a central quadrilobed flower head surrounded by foliate scrolls detailed with fine gold inlay (2)

Height 4 in., 10 cm
$ 20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Nagatani Inc., Chicago, 1st May 1957. Nagatani Inc.，芝加哥，1957年5月1日
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

Luxuriously decorated in gold and silver with meticulously executed designs, the quality and complexity of the
present piece surpass most examples of this type, suggesting it was likely used by someone of high status, such as
members of the the Han dynasty imperial family. The design on the present censer is extremely rare, and no other
examples appear to be published. Compare a related gilt-bronze censer of a slightly compressed form, similarly
fashioned with an undecorated raised band around the body interrupted by a pair of ring handles, excavated
from the tomb of Liu Sheng, the Prince of Zhongshan of the Western Han dynasty, in Mancheng, Hebei province,
published in Institute of Archaeology, CASS, ed., Mancheng Hanmu fajue baogao [Archaeological report of the
Han tombs in Mancheng], vol. 2, Beijing, 1980, pl. CLXXVI, fig. 1; and another modeled in a more stout form, in the
Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, published in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 204.

See also a related bronze censer with a less elaborate design, from the Western Han dynasty, exhibited in Ancient
Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990, cat. no. 44; another with a circular tray,
sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th November 1973, lot 15; and two illustrated in Ovar Karlbeck, ‘Selected Objects
from Ancient Shou-Chou’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 27, Stockholm, 1955, pls 3 and 4.

本品熏爐，紋飾華富，製工精巧，於此品類中罕有出其右 亦見一銅爐類例，紋飾略簡，出自西漢，展於《青銅聚
者，可見其主之地位，應為漢代皇室貴族。此爐紋飾珍罕 英：中國古代與鄂爾多斯青銅器展覽》，香港藝術館，
非常，類例未見著錄。比一銅鎏金熏爐近例，器形略扁 香港，1990年，編號44；再比一例，連托盤，售於香
圓，爐身環飾素帶弦紋，雙耳，西漢中山王劉勝河北滿城 港蘇富比1973年11月16日，編號15；另有兩例載於Ovar
古墓出土，載於中國社會科學院考古研究所編，《滿城漢 Karlbeck，〈Selected Objects from Ancient Shou-
墓發掘報告》，冊下，北京，1980年，圖版CLXXVI，圖 Cho〉，《Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities》，編號
1；另比一例，器形較敦厚，現藏東京出光美術館，載於 27，斯德哥爾摩，1955年，圖版3及4。
《中国の工芸：出光美術館蔵品図録》，東京，1989年，
圖版204。

116 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II