A gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel tripod incense burner


Jingtai four-character mark, mid-Ming DynastyHeavily cast with a gently tapered body supported on three gilt-bronze elephant-head feet, the sides flanked by a pair of elephant-heads, their upturned trunks forming the handles, the exterior brilliantly enamelled with large lotus blossoms amid foliate scrolls on a white ground below a band of floral lappets, all surmounted by a gilt-bronze keyfret border. 22.2cm (8¾in) wide.
|明中期 銅胎掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋三足爐「景泰年製」楷書款Provenance: A French private collection來源：法國私人收藏A related cloisonné enamel incense burner, similarly adorned with handles formed by upturned elephant trunks and enamelled with scrolling lotus on the body, early Ming dynasty, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Yang Boda, Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji. Zhongguo Jinyin Boli Falangqi Quanji 5. Falangqi 1, Hebei, 2002, p.16, no.17; see also another example similarly mounted with elephant-head feet and trunk handles, mid-Ming dynasty, ibid., no.65.The decoration and the elephant mounts are a direct continuation from the preceding Yuan dynasty, see an incense burner with elephant trunk handles, Yuan dynasty; in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Enamels 1, Cloisonné in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, p.60, pl.7.北京故宮博物院藏一件明早期銅胎掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋象首耳爐可資比較，見《中國美術分類全集：中國金銀玻璃琺瑯器全集5琺瑯器（一）》，河北，2002年，頁16，編號17；另見一件明中期熏爐，同樣飾象首足及耳，見同上著錄，編號65。類似於本器的紋飾及象首嵌飾已見於前朝，見北京故宮藏一例，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系：琺瑯器編1元明掐絲琺瑯》，北京，2011年，頁60，編號7。