A rare sancai-glazed incense burner, Tang dynasty

拍品描述

Property Formerly in the Sze Yuan Tang Collection Width 13.5 cm, 5⅓ in. While the form of this censer closely follows metal prototypes, its feet are in the form of guardian figures, known in Buddhist iconography as Yakshas. These guardians are benign semi-divine beings, half gods half demons, and are recognizable by their stocky pot-bellied appearance. In the Tang dynasty, they were generally depicted with large bulging eyes and wearing only a loin cloth, which gave them an exotic appearance. Sancai censers with feet in the form of guardians are unusual. Two related pieces, one excavated from a tomb in Luoyang, are illustrated in Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Gongyi yao / Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites. Gongyi Kiln of China, Beijing, 2011, p. 428, centre; another is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu / Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 222. The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford Authentication Ltd., no. C112a58.

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