Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1400-1500 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:celadon-glazed, incised, applied,
Subjects:bird leaf lotus
Dimensions:Height: 16.30 centimetres Length: 19 centimetres
Description:
Porcelain incense burner box in the form of a pair of birds in a lotus pond with incised and applied decoration and green glaze. This incense burner box is modelled as a male and female goose, standing with their flanks together in a shallow lotus pond. The gander, distinguished from his mate by his comb, rests his chin on the back of the female’s neck and closes his eyes. The goose bends towards the gander with her eyes open. Their wings are folded on their backs to form a corresponding pair. Below their webbed feet, amid the modelled waves, are on the male’s side a flowering and budding lotus and on the female’s side a lotus seed pod and a leaf; below their rumps is a further leaf. The varied textures of the different feathers on the necks, wings, tails and bellies of the geese are suggested by incised designs. The sculpture is divided into two halves below the birds’ wings, forming a tray and a lid. Inside a cavity is hollowed out and there is a hole below each of the birds’ tails. The tips of the wings, beaks and behind the necks as well as the lotus leaves and flowers have been damaged and repaired.
IMG
![图片[1]-incense-burner BM-1938-0524.10-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00273880_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-incense-burner BM-1938-0524.10-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Ming dynasty/Ceramics/mid_00280474_001.jpg)
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:The piece was designed as an amusing incense burner for a scholar’s studio. Strong-smelling incense such as vanilla or aloeswood was burnt in powdered or pellet form. A small amount of powdered incense was placed inside the cavity of the goose incense burner and lit, the lid was replaced and the fragrant smoke escaped through the holes underneath the birds’ tails, much to the delight of the owner and his friends. Incense burners in the form of birds were first produced in the Han dynasty (207 BC-AD 220). Novelty incense burners in the form of birds were revived in the Song dynasty in both bronze and ceramic and continued to be popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing eras. An earlier twelfth-to-thirteenth-century bronze incense burner is in the British Museum. An enamelled porcelain goose incense burner recently unearthed in the Chenghua stratum (1465-87) at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, is stylistically similar to this Longquan example.
Materials:porcelain
Technique:celadon-glazed, incised, applied,
Subjects:bird leaf lotus
Dimensions:Height: 16.30 centimetres Length: 19 centimetres
Description:
Porcelain incense burner box in the form of a pair of birds in a lotus pond with incised and applied decoration and green glaze. This incense burner box is modelled as a male and female goose, standing with their flanks together in a shallow lotus pond. The gander, distinguished from his mate by his comb, rests his chin on the back of the female’s neck and closes his eyes. The goose bends towards the gander with her eyes open. Their wings are folded on their backs to form a corresponding pair. Below their webbed feet, amid the modelled waves, are on the male’s side a flowering and budding lotus and on the female’s side a lotus seed pod and a leaf; below their rumps is a further leaf. The varied textures of the different feathers on the necks, wings, tails and bellies of the geese are suggested by incised designs. The sculpture is divided into two halves below the birds’ wings, forming a tray and a lid. Inside a cavity is hollowed out and there is a hole below each of the birds’ tails. The tips of the wings, beaks and behind the necks as well as the lotus leaves and flowers have been damaged and repaired.
IMG
Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:The piece was designed as an amusing incense burner for a scholar’s studio. Strong-smelling incense such as vanilla or aloeswood was burnt in powdered or pellet form. A small amount of powdered incense was placed inside the cavity of the goose incense burner and lit, the lid was replaced and the fragrant smoke escaped through the holes underneath the birds’ tails, much to the delight of the owner and his friends. Incense burners in the form of birds were first produced in the Han dynasty (207 BC-AD 220). Novelty incense burners in the form of birds were revived in the Song dynasty in both bronze and ceramic and continued to be popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing eras. An earlier twelfth-to-thirteenth-century bronze incense burner is in the British Museum. An enamelled porcelain goose incense burner recently unearthed in the Chenghua stratum (1465-87) at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, is stylistically similar to this Longquan example.
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