RARE CHINESE BRONZE 'ELEPHANT' SQUARE CENSER

拍品描述

RARE CHINESE BRONZE 'ELEPHANT' SQUARE CENSER XUANDE AND TAIJIDIAN MARKS, QING DYNASTY 清 「太極殿用 第拾壹號」內款 及 雙龍環抱減地陽文「大明宣德年製」底款 銅鑄象耳象足方爐cast in rounded square form with sides rising to waisted neck with key-fret band, two sides flanked with elephant-head handles, all raised on four elephant head feet, the base finely cast with a six-character Xuande mark in a recessed rectangular panel, enclosed by a pair of sinuous five-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls amidst clouds in high relief, one side of the interior with an eight-character ‘Tai Ji Dian Yong, Di Shi Yi Hao’ (for the usage of The Taiji Hall/ Hall of the Supreme Principle, number eleven) 32cm wide including handles; 5089g Private English collection, London;Formerly in a private Scottish collection倫敦私人收藏；前蘇格蘭私人收藏 This finely cast censer is extremely rare due to its Taiji Hall mark on the interior, the double-dragon enclosed Xuande mark on the base, the elephant-headed feet and handles and square form. All of these indicate that this is an extremely rare piece made in the Imperial Foundry of the Qing dynasty, and possibly during the Qianlong reign for the Daoist temple Taiji Hall.Taiji Hall (Taijidian, The Hall of the Supreme Principle) could be referred to two locations. One of the most commonly known Taiji Halls is one of the Six Western Palaces in the Inner Court of the Forbidden City. It was first built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty (1420 CE) and originally named "Weiyang Gong" (Weiyang Palace). In the 14th year of the Jiajing reign (1535 CE), it was renamed "Qixiang Gong" (Qixiang Palace); and later, in the Tongzhi reign (1862-1874) of the Qing dynasty, it was given its current name, "Taiji Dian".[1] The other lesser-known Taiji Hall is located at Daguangmingdian (The Great Hall of the Brightness) near the Forbidden City, Beijing. Daguangmingdian was a group of Daoist temples for the royal family during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its construction began in the eleventh month of the 36th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty (1557 CE). It was renovated in the 11th year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty (1733) and again in the 38th year of the Qianlong reign (1773 CE). Inside was enshrined the Jade Emperor, making it a royal Daoist temple. In addition to the main Daguangmingdian, there were also auxiliary buildings, including the Taichu Hall, Taishi Hall, and Taiji Hall. In the 8th month of the 26th year of the Guangxu reign (1900 CE), the Daguangmingdian and its auxiliary buildings were destroyed in the warfare, therefore no trace of remains today.[2]According to the Complete Archives of the Qing Imperial Household Department's Workshop (Volume 51, pp. 558–560), between the 55th and 56th years of the Qianlong reign (1790–1791), the Imperial Foundry produced several batches of "bronze five offerings with cloud-and-dragon pattern" in various sizes for the Taiji Hall within the Daguangmingdian.[3] The set of five offerings necessarily includes one censer, and the present example might be one of them.On the other hand, such finely cast double-dragon enclosed mark on the base only has few comparable examples in the Qing Court collection, and two are in the Palace Museum, Beijing: two circular handled censer with comparable double-dragon enclosed four-character ‘Nei Tan Jiao She (refers to the altar to Heaven and Earth within the inner walls of the Temple of Heaven)’ mark on the base, dated to the Ming dynasty, museum number: Gu 177014[4]; the other cast on the bronze base of a censer, enclosed with a three-character ‘Lu Gu Zhai’ mark, also dated to the Ming dynasty, museum number: Gu 179155.[5] According to Li Mijia, the curator at the Palace Museum, Beijing: “Among the Xuande bronzes from the Qing Court collection, there are also similar patterns of two dragons encircling the mark on the base of the vessel. However, the depiction of the dragons differs somewhat, and the engraving varies in thickness and refinement.”[6]The tradition of using elephant heads as the feet of imperial bronze censers can be traced back at least as far as the Xuande reign (1426 -1435). An example of a censer, bearing a six-character Xuande reign mark and dated to the Ming dynasty, on which the elephants balance on their rolled trunks, comparable to the present lot, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, museum number: Gu Tong 002612. Square-form censers are extremely rare in the Qing Court. In modern religious traditions, square or rectangular censers are normally known as Tiangong censer, a distinctive type of incense burner traditionally used in the religious veneration of the Jade Emperor, the supreme deity in traditional Daoist cosmology. Such a tradition might be traced back to the Qing dynasty. A comparable Ming dynasty rectangular censer supported on four lingzhi fungus feet, flanked with two dragon handles and with a Daoist immortal as the finial of the reticulated cover, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, museum number: Gu Tong 002630.

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