19. M5500
£32,000
Description
Chinese Blanc de Chine incense burner in the form of an archaic bronze gui, with two elephant-head ring handles, gently flared rim and splayed raised foot with ribbed edge, covered overall in an even cream glaze extending to the base, the well of the interior unglazed, the underside with a four-character impressed seal mark Ding Shui Qi Zhen, “Rare treasure of Ding Shui”.
5 3⁄8 inches, 13.7 cm handle to handle; 4 3⁄8 inches, 10.7 cm diameter of rim; 3 3⁄4 inches, 8.2 cm high.
Dehua, Fujian Province.
Late Ming, circa 1640.
Wood stand and Edward T. Chow fitted box.
Provenance & Additional Information
- From the collection of Edward T. Chow.
Edward T. Chow (1910-1980) was born in Yangzhou and at the age of thirteen was sent to Shanghai to study with the art dealer Zhu Heting, he was also mentored by Jacob Melchior, a Danish collector working in the Customs Service. He met many of the great Western collectors and moved to Hong Kong in 1947 where he built his reputation as a dealer and significant collector of Chinese ceramics and works of art. In 1967 he moved to Geneva. Following his passing in 1980, his collection was auction in London and Hong Kong. - Sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of The Edward T. Chow Collection, Part Three, Ming and Qing Porcelain and Works of Art, 19th May 1981, lot 475, p. 87, illustration p. 93.
- Sold by Spink & Son, London.
- Formerly in the collection of Mr. H. Soudavar.
- A censer of this form is illustrated by P. J. Donnelly in Blanc de Chine, 1969, pl. 11D, who records the seal mark as “P.360, F8f ” and discusses it on p. 260; another bearing the same mark is illustrated by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 1994, no. 95, p. 63; another is illustrated by Wang Yamin and Huang Weiwen in Dehua Wares Collected by the Palace Museum I, no. 136, pp. 314/5.
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