Page 232 - Important Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Hong Kong

VARIOUS PROPERTIES

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A RARE ARABIC-INSCRIBED BRONZE INCENSE SET The Islamic inscrptions on these vessels may be translated as follows:
‘there is no God but Allah’ (censer), ‘glory be to God’ (vase), ‘all praise is
MING DYNASTY, POSSIBLY OF THE ZHENGDE PERIOD (1506-1521) due to God’ (box).

The incense set is comprised of a tripod li censer cast with a Incense burning served not only religious purposes, but also had more
practical functions such as the fumigation of clothes. From the Song
Zhengde four-character seal mark, a bottle vase with two loop dynasty onwards, censers became an increasingly important element
in the scholar’s studio as the burning of incense was thought to
handles, and a circular box and cover, all decorated with Arabic enhance the clarity of mind. The standard scholar’s incense garniture
comprising a censer, tool vase and box, such as the present example,
inscriptions reserved on fine ring-punched grounds. The metal has was developed in the Ming dynasty.

a warm reddish-brown patina. The present incense set decorated with Arabic writings is often
associated with the Zhengde reign (1506-1521), when Arabic inscription
The censer: 3 ¬ in. (9.3 cm.) high; the vase: 6 ¬ in. (16.8 cm.) high; became a popular decorative motif on imperial porcelain. The majority
of the Arabic inscriptions are religious or philosophical in content and
4 ¬ in. (11.5 cm.) diam., Japanese wood boxes (3) many of these are quotations from the Qur’an, such as that on the blue
and white porcelain table screen in the collection of Sir Percival David,
HK$1,500,000-2,500,000 US$200,000-320,000 the inscription on which comes from Surat al Jinn (LXXII) (illustrated by
R. Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration – Four Dynasties
PROVENANCE of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London, 1992, p. 70, no. 68). A number of other
inscriptions are secular and either indicate the item’s functionality, such
A Japanese private collection, acquired in the 1990s as ‘pen rest’, or are mottoes, such as ‘Strive for excellence in penmanship,
for it is one of the keys of livelihood.’ It is believed that these porcelain
明 或為正德 銅阿拉伯文爐瓶盒三事 pieces were produced under the influence of powerful Muslim eunuchs
in the imperial court. It is interesting to note that incense burnning was
來源 also a popular practice among Muslims in their religious ceremonies.
日本私人珍藏，入藏於 1990 年代
A very similar incense set is illustrated by Liu Xirong, Zhongding
款識 mingxiang (3): Rongzhai qinggong zhenshang, Beijing, 2013, pp. 94-95.
爐：「正德年製」四字篆書款 Compare also an Arabic-inscribed tool vase and an Arabic-inscribed
box and cover, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, Drawn by the Senses, 26
November 2014, lots 2911 and 2912.

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