A RECTANGULAR BRONZE INCENSE BURNER LATE MING – EARLY QING DYNASTY

cast resembling a table with tapered feet, the sides sweeping up and set with a pair of flat-topped handles, the underside with an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark, patinated to a chocolate-brown colour, the domed wood cover surmounted with a carved coral finial

The form of the current incense burner, boldly cast of straight rectangular form supported on four tapering legs, is rare, and reminiscent of furniture from the late Ming to early Qing dynasty. For a Yongzheng mark and period bronze incense burner of similar 'table-form', see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Classics of the Forbidden City. Splendors from the Yongle and Xuande Reigns of China's Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2012, p. 265, pl. 145. The Palace Museum incense burner differs from the current example in that it is cast with straight legs set at right angles to the body, and is preserved with its original stand. Another Xuande reign-marked example from the collection of Mr and Mrs Gerard Hawthorn was sold in these rooms, 3rd December 2015, lot 2.