A BRONZE TRIPOD CENSER, MING
China, 17th century. The incense burner standing on three feet, with four incised circumferential lines just below the everted lip, two elongated rectangular handles, matching hongmu cover in openwork carving and yellow jade knob.

Provenance: American private collection. By repute acquired at a local yard sale.
Condition: Fine patina. The bronze with one ding and traces of use as well as minor nicks here and there. The wood with minor losses. The jade with natural fissures.

Weight: 591.4 grams (the bronze) and 67.2 grams (the lid)
Dimensions: 11.8 cm diameter from handle to handle

Two character ‘Shimabara’ mark to base, likely added onsite after this censer was exported from China to Japan to be used at Shimabara castle, situated in Nagasaki province, the only region where imports of goods from abroad were legal in Japan at the time. Probably the present censer somehow made its way back to China, when Portuguese tradesmen and missionaries where expelled from Japan in masses after the Shimabara rebellion in 1638 and took it with them. At some later point in history it then had been refitted with the now present wooden lid and jade knob, from the perspective of ‘Chinese Taste’ certainly adding further appeal to it, the mark having been condemned to insignificance by that point in time.

明代青銅三足香爐
中國，十七世紀。三足香爐，爐沿下四道橫紋，矩形雙耳細長，紅木雕 蓋，黃玉鈕。

來源：美國私人收藏，據説在當地購買。
品相：包漿細膩，青銅爐有使用痕跡，以及局部磕碰。木蓋有輕微磕損。 玉鈕上有天然裂縫。

重量： 591.4 克 (青銅爐)；67.2 克 (蓋)
尺寸： 雙耳間直徑11.8 厘米