BLUE-GLAZED PORCELAIN INCENSE BURNER
18TH CENTURY
12.5 cm diameter, 6.4 cm high
The incense burner is of compressed bombe form supported on a tapering foot rising to a rounded body and a flaring rim. The exterior is covered with a fine cobalt blue glaze. The mouth rim, interior sides and foot rim are glazed white. The recessed base is left unglazed.
Porcelain incense burners were often made after bronze examples and many were produced in Dehua. The present incense burner, however, was produced in Jingdezhen where most incense burners were painted in blue and white, rather than monochrome glazed. The glazed foot rim is a further unusual feature, probably for protecting a wooden surface from scratching.
Provenance:
Sotheby's Amsterdam, 16 October 1990, lot 141
Formerly in a Dutch private collection