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PROPERTY FROM AN ASIAN PRIVATE COLLECTION ׼܁ᅃ ზߣỻക೗๻ᚂ،ᇳ७ɧԑᘟ
A RARE CLOISONNE ENAMEL TRIPOD Ը๕
CENSER ࠰ಥԳɻ੻1999ϋ11˜2˚dᇜ໮799
MING DYNASTY, XUANDE PERIOD
sturdily cast, the compressed globular body raised on three
tapered legs, applied with a pair of upright handles, the body
richly enameled with a continuous register of meandering lotus
against a turquoise-blue ground, with a keyfret border against
a red ground at the rim, the handles decorated in champlevé
enamels with geometric scrolls in red, blue and green, the rims
and details gilt
Width 7 in., 17.7 cm
PROVENANCE
Christie’s Hong Kong, 2nd November 1999, lot 799.
It is interesting to note that cloisonné enameling technique
appears to reach its peak very rapidly in the ! fteenth century,
and ! ne examples are rare. In particular, the well-controlled
enamel tones on the present vessel reveal all the classic
characteristics of the zenith of the technique, with crisply
isolated cells of enamels within well-gilded cloisons.
A relatively small number of similar incense burners are known,
compare two of the same form and decoration, with with
applied animal-masks surmounting the legs, one from the Avery
Brundage Collection, now in the Asian Art Museum of San
Francisco, included in the exhibition Cloisonné. Chinese Enamels
from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate
Center, New York, 2011, cat. no. 23, and another, with its cover,
illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné. The Pierre Uldry Collection, The
Asia Society Galleries, New York, 1989, cat. no. 15.
Further related censers of this type include two examples with
raised bosses below the rim, sold at Christie’s New York, 26th
March 2003, lot 60, and Christie’s London, 15th December
1983, lot 353. A further example, formerly in the Palmer
Museum of Art, was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 23rd March
2004, lot 525.
$ 80,000-120,000

144 SOTHEBY’S