Page 202 - Sotheby's Speelman Collection Oct. 3, 2018

3456

A RARE CLOISONNE ENAMEL 明末十七世紀

AND GILT-BRONZE ‘GRAPES’ 掐絲琺瑯葡萄紋活環耳三足熏爐
TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER

AND COVER
LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH

CENTURY

cast with a compressed globular body rising to a short
waisted neck and galleried mouth-rim, all supported on three
short legs issuing from gilt-bronze mythical beast masks
and terminating with gilt-bronze claws, the sides flanked by
a pair of handles, each with a floral bloom partially enclosed
with multi-coloured leaves and suspending a loose ring,
the turquoise-ground exterior of the body and legs brightly
enamelled with clusters of green and aubergine grapes borne
on stems further issuing colourful foliage, the gilt-bronze
rim detailed with a key-fret band repeated at the rim of the
domed cover, the cover similarly enamelled with grapes and
surmounted by a pierced gilt-bronze medallion finial enclosing
a coiling dragon amidst ruyi clouds
17.2 cm, 6¾ in.

HK$ 500,000-700,000
US$ 64,000-89,500

The brilliantly enamelled design on the current incense burner
and cover is extremely rare. The only other recorded example
at auction is an identical one sold in our London rooms, 16th
November 1971, lot 50.
For another incense burner and cover in the Pierre Uldry
collection, dating to the first half of the 17th century, with a
similar design of grapes, see Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz,
Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, London, 1989,
pl. 144. See also 16th century pieces of this pattern illustrated
by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonne
Enamels, London, 1962, pl. 40a and c.

200 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比