M5072
£11,500
Description
Chinese celadon glazed incense burner modelled as a duck standing on pierced rockwork with upright neck and open beak with incised eyes, wings and feather work, the unglazed flat burnt-red biscuit base revealing the body with some ink characters, one wing forming the censer cover.
Ming dynasty, circa 1450-1550.
7 1⁄4 inches, 18.5 cm high; 6 3/8 inches, 16.2 cm long.
Condition
Overall good condition, the glaze with areas of crackle.
Provenance & Additional Information
- From the collection of the Swedish Ambassador Tage Grönwall (1903-1988), who purchased this while stationed in Tokyo during the 1950s and early 1960s.
- A related duck-form incense burner bequeathed by Mrs. B.Z. Seligman, collection no. OA 1973.7-26.319 and another given by George Eumorfopoulos OA 1911.6-7.27 are both illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, nos. 16:93 and 16:94, pp. 498/9, where the author notes that these incense burners were manufactured for domestic use on a desk rather than temple or a shrine, and that aromatic incense such as vanilla or aloeswood was burnt in powdered or pellet form inside the cavity and the perfumed smoke emerged thought he birds beak and bottom.
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