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A PAIR OF PARCEL GILT-BRONZE DUCK-SHAPED INCENSE During the Ming dynasty, incense burners in the form of ducks appear
BURNERS AND COVERS to have been popular. The ‘One Hundred Lyric Poems of the Yuan
Ming Dynasty Court’ (Yuan gong ci yibai shou 元宮詞一百首) by Zhu Youdun
Each finely cast in the shape of a duck with the head slightly raised as (朱有燉), dated 1406, mentions ‘The gold duck burns the remaining
if calling out and small beady eyes framed by long sinuous feathers midnight fragrance; Only then do the ladies of the Imperial family try on
defining the round body supporting their gracefully curved slender the Yue-woven skirts’. A further poem by the Ming scholar and Grand
necks, adorned with finely incised layers of triangular and circular Secretary, Jin Youzi (金幼孜 1368-1431), included in ‘Viewing Lanterns
feathers backed by a further array of feathers fanning out of their on the Lantern Festival’ (Yuanxi ci wumen guandeng 元夕賜午門觀燈)
tail, all supported on a sturdy webbed foot, the other leg tucked and recorded in the Jin wen jing ji, vol.4 in Qianding siku quanshu,
underneath their stomach. mentions that, on the occasion of the banquet held by the emperor
Each 26cm (10 1/4in) high. (4). during the Lantern Festival at the beginning of the Ming dynasty,
‘Auspicious portents of lovely smoke rose forth from the golden duck
£10,000 - 12,000 censers’. This poem clearly suggests that gilt-bronze duck incense
CNY88,000 - 110,000 burner were used at court banquets from as early as the beginning of
the 15th century.

明 銅鎏金寶鴨式薰爐一對 See a related bronze duck incense burner, Ming dynasty, in the
Tokugawa Art Museum Collection, Nagoya, illustrated in The Shogun
Incense burners shaped as ducks were made in China from at least Age Exhibition: From the Tokugawa Art Museum, Japan, Tokyo, 1983,
the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). See a bronze duck incense burner, p.107.
Han dynasty, of similar form to the present piece, in the Portland
Art Museum, illustrated by D.Jenkins, Mysterious Spirits, Strange Compare with a related bronze ‘duck’ incense burner, Ming dynasty,
Beasts, Earthly Delights: Early Chinese Art from the Arlene and Harold which was sold at Bonhams New York, 16 September 2013, lot 8103.
Schnitzer Collection, Portland, 2005, pp.80-81.

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. FINE CHINESE ART | 207