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5. VERY RARE GOLD TURQUOISE AND
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Cast as a horned fabulous beast or jiaoduan, the spherical body and attached lid cast as the upturned head is entirely decorated with volutes and scrolls in gold and inlaid with turquoise and agate highlighting the eyes, nose and beard of the animal. The feet are perched on curvilinear supports. Censers of this distinctive mythical animal form first appeared in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220AD). Two very rare examples were included in Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Sakamoto Collection, Nara National Museum, 2002, exhibition catalogue nos. 290 and 291, both dated to mid or late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). This animal form was revived in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, mostly in gilt or parcel-gilt bronze. A Ming version of this shape was included in Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong Kong, 1986, exhibition catalogue no. 232. Two rare Qing Dynasty enamel versions are published in Great National Treasures of China: Special Exhibition in Kaohsiung City Loaned by the National Palace Museum’s Seventieth Anniversary, 1994, catalogue, p.165, no.101 and p. 236, no. 100. |
