Splash Glazed Stoneware Censer, Junyao
Splash Glazed Stoneware Censer, Junyao
Splash Glazed Stoneware Censer, Junyao
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Splash Glazed Stoneware Censer, Junyao

Jin Dynasty, 1115 – 1234
Height: 16.5 cm

The globular censer stands on three feet issuing from lion masks. The rim turns out perpendicular to the cylindrical neck onto which two squared off upright handles are placed.

On the rim, the edges of two handles and around the feet the glaze is thin allowing the buff pottery to show through. There are three purple splashes on the exterior of the censer. Three more purple splashes appear on the topside of the everted rim. The interior base has an unglazed saggar mark, which is typical for the period and method of firing.

PROVENANCE:

“Dick” Wang, (formerly of Sotheby’s, London and New York)
Weisbrod Chinese Art, Ltd., New York, Archetypes and Archaism,
Spring 2001, number 20
Private Canadian Collection, Toronto Important North American Collector

PUBLISHED: Weisbrod Chinese Art, Ltd., New York, Archetypes and Archaism, Spring 2001, number 20

EXHIBITED: Weisbrod Chinese Art, Ltd., New York, Archetypes and Archaism, Spring 2001, number 20

These tripod incense burners are modeled after archaic bronze vessels called ding (see cat. nos. 2 and 5). Although they serve a different purpose than the archaic vessels, which were used to cook food, craftsmen chose to use the archaic shape as a reference to the past. Much of Chinese art is based on new interpretations of the past styles. In echoing an archaic shape, the craftsman lends an aura of credibility and familiarity to his work.

A smaller censer of similar shape, but without handles, dated to the Song dynasty is published in Mayuyama Seventy Years, no. 391. Another, much smaller censer, also without handles, dated to the Jin or Yuan dynasty is in the Meiyintang Collection, see Krahl, no. 394.

Another larger censer with applied decoration is illustrated in Mikami, Ceramic Art of The World, Vol. 13, Liao, Chin and Yuan Dynasties, no. 103, dated in an inscription to 1309.