Page 90 - Chinese Art Bonhams San Francisco December 18, 2017

959 960

959 960
A CAST BRONZE CENSER A GILT-SPLASHED BRONZE TWO-HANDLED VASE
Xuande seven-character mark, 18th century Xuande mark, 18th century
Thickly cast with a raised edge to the stepped rim, a waisted neck Of archaistic hu form, thickly cast with raised string bands along the
on a compressed globular body raised on three short waisted feet, waisted neck and flaring foot, the pairs of animal mask handles and
the base centered with a recessed reserve bearing a seven-character suspended loose rings each accented with incised details and the dark
mark reading Da Ming Xuande wu nian zao in three rows of standard golden-brown patina enlivened throughout with irregular gold splashes,
script. the base bearing the six-character mark cast in standard script within
5 3/4in (14.5cm) diameter a rectangular recess.
8 3/4in (22.3cm) high
$3,000 - 5,000
$10,000 - 15,000
Provenance
Roy Maxwell Talbot (1880-1963); A gilt-splashed bronze hu-form vase of very similar size and shape was
then by descent through his family sold in Sotheby’s, London sale 11210, 11 May 2011, lot 234, also as
18th century (9 1/8in [23.1cm] high).
Roy Maxwell Talbot (1880 -1963) began his career in the Chinese
Maritime Customs in 1908. He served as Commissioner of Customs from 961
1935 until 1938, when he became Audit Secretary in the Inspectorate A BRONZE BOMBÉ CENSER AND A STAND
General’s Office. He was in that position until 1942. He served in Canton, Qing dynasty
Icheng, Nanking, Shanghai, Harbin, Swatow, Kongmoon, Aigun, Antung, The censer cast with a pair of loop handles rising from a flat rim, a
Changsha, Amoy and Kunming. In July 1932, Talbot was arrested by short waisted neck and a compressed globular body raised on three
Japanese officials in Antung, Manchuria for refusing to hand over the short conical legs, the underside bearing a six-character Xuande
Chinese customs revenues. In 1941 he was held in the Bridge House, mark cast in high relief standard script within a rectangular recess;
an infamous dungeon, for 42 days. Talbot’s detention by the Japanese the circular stand cast with a stepped waist and scalloped aprons
created an international incident. Newspapers around the world carried descending between the three cloud-collar feet.
headlines of an arrest of an ‘American’ employed by the Chinese. 5 3/4in (14.5cm) diameter of censer
5 1/2in (14cm) diameter of stand
The seven-character mark on this center containing a date of Xuande
fifth year (1430) is quite unusual. The 1430 date is usually found $5,000 - 7,000
on censers associated with the early Ming official Wu Bangzuo:
for a bronze censer with sixteen-character mark identifying him as
superintendent of the Board of Public Works during Xuande fifth year,
see Bonhams Sam Francisco sale 21034, 19 December 2013, lot
6487. An eighteen-character inscription on another censer recording
his supervision of a censer cast for the Great Sacrifice in 1430 was
sold in Bonhams, London sale 23238, 10 November 2016, lot 91.

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