A fine gilt-bronze censer 17th century

of finely cast squat form with plain rounded sides between borders of tight overlapping lappets, the shoulders flanked with lion mask-handles, the short straight neck accented with upright vertical grooves before a lipped rim, the matching footrim enclosing the base cast with an apocryphal twelve-character inscription reading Xuande Ernian zhou Xijia Xiuhuang Zhuren zhi (Made in the second year of Xuande, by Zhou Xijia, Master of Xiuhuang)

A Private Japanese Collection.