Page 159 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

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A GOLD-SPLASHED BRONZE TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER, DING mercury, so that the small amount of gold was left adhering to the
Xuande seal mark, 17th/18th century base metal. The process could then be repeated several times to build
Of globular shape supported on three short curling legs, and set with two up thicker layers of gold. Indeed, a line drawing of a gold-splashed
bail handles rising from the rim, the base cast with a Xuande six-character incense burner in the ‘Illustrated Catalogue of the Ritual Vessels of the
mark, with irregular splashes of gold on the olive-brown patina. Xuande Period’ Xuande Yiqi Tupu, which purports to be the wording of
18.5cm (7 2/8in) wide. an Imperial decree of 1428 ordering bronzes for the Palace, and which
illustrates these vessels, would seem to indicate that the practice of
£8,000 - 12,000 applying gold splashes on bronzes may have been used since the
CNY72,000 - 110,000 15th century. Many scholars, however, have argued that the this work
may have been published at a later stage than the Ming dynasty; see
十七/十八世紀 銅灑金三足鼎式爐 R.Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, p.18.

「宣德」篆書款 Compare with a related gold-splashed globular tripod incense burner,
18th century, with a two-character Xuande seal mark, which was sold
Provenance: at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2019, lot 3650.
An important European private collection
爐斂口，口沿上施一對沖耳，圓腹，下接三矮足，仿商周銅器獸蹄足
來源： 之意。通體灑金，線條流暢，古雅大方。爐底正中鏨刻「宣德」篆書
歐洲重要私人收藏 款。爐型仿商周重要青銅禮器鼎，是清朝自上而下鑑古仿古風尚的實
例體現。
The form of the present incense burner is based on the archaic bronze
food ritual vessel, ding, produced during the Shang dynasty. As such, 本品所用的灑金工藝起源尚不明晰，或始於明代；《宣德彝器圖
it reflects the Qing emperors’ fascination with antiquity, and their call 譜》繪有一件灑金銅爐，可資證明。 《宣德彝器圖譜》據傳編撰於
for craftsman to take inspiration from earlier forms and designs. 1428年，然而也有學者認為其成書時間或晚於明代。參見R.Kerr著，
《Later Chinese Bronzes》，倫敦，1990年，頁18。
The ‘gold-splashed’ decoration was achieved by ‘fire-gilding’, a
technique involving the application of gold in the form of a mercury/ 參考一件與本例相關的十八世紀銅灑金橋耳三足爐，同施「宣德」
gold amalgam. Subsequently the vessel was heated to drive off the 篆書仿款，售於香港蘇富比，2019年10月8日，拍品編號3650。

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. THE H COLLECTION | 157