Page 70 - March 23, 2022 Sotheby's NYC Fine Chinese Works of Art

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PROPERTY FROM AN EAST COAST PRIVATE COLLECTION General Charles H.T. Collis (1838-1902) joined the 18th
AN EXTREMELY RARE LARGE CLOISONNÉ Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment at the start of the Civil War
ENAMEL TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER AND and later led the Zouaves d’Afrique, a special duty company
of hand-picked men modeled after the elite Algerian troops
COVER of the French Army, to fight in several major battles including
MING DYNASTY, WANLI PERIOD the Battle of Fredericksburg, for which he later received
the Medal of Honor. Following the war, Collis practiced law,
the perimeter of the cover with irregularly spaced
indentations (2) becoming an Assistant City Solicitor in Philadelphia. He is
Height 16¼ in., 41.5cm buried at the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, where he is
honored by a monument.
PROVENANCE
$ 60,000-80,000
Collection of General Charles H.T. Collis (1838-1902), and
thence by descent.
明萬曆 銅胎掐絲琺瑯游龍獻壽紋大蓋爐
It is extremely rare to find a late Ming cloisonné enamel
incense burner of this large size and quality. The vibrant
design of blue dragons confronting across a stylized red 來源
shou character is successfully rendered in brilliant cloisonné Charles H.T. Collis (1838-1902) 將軍收藏，此後家族
enamels. 傳承
The iconography of dragons confronting across a shou
character is found on a select group of imperial Wanli reign-
marked enamel incense burners of fang ding form. See an
example from the McLaren collection, sold in our London
rooms, 16th June 1999, lot 720, another from the collection
of Sir Basil Gould, sold at Bonhams London, 5th November
2007, lot 98, and one in the collection of the Palace Museum,
Beijing, illustrated in Metal-Bodied Enamel Ware: The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong
Kong, 2002, pl.51, where the original Wanli mark has been
replaced by a Jingtai mark.
The precision of placement of the circular notches on
the perimeter of the cover of the current incense burner
appears to be deliberate, and seems to correspond closely
to 14 of the 28 Lunar Mansions (xiu) of the ancient Chinese
star chart (see Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation
in China, Cambridge, 1959, vol. 3, astronomy table 24).
Appearing from around the late Zhou (c. 1047-256BC) or
early Han (206BC-AD220) period, the 28 xiu had been used
for interpreting celestial and terrestrial events for dynasties.
During the Jiajing reign (1522-66), a large-scale renovation
was carried out at the observatory of the Ming court, which
is still standing today and is now called the Beijing Ancient
Observatory. According to the Ming records, a wind pole
with 28 hoops symbolizing the 28 xiu was installed there in
the second year of Jiajing (1523), demonstrating the great
importance of the Lunar Mansions at that time.

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