A silver-inlaid bronze 'lotus' incense-tool vase, Late Ming dynasty

Collection of Paul Freeman.

Sotheby's New York, 21st March 2015, lot 794.

In the quality of its casting and fine silver inlay, the present vase is comparable to the finest wares of the period attributed to the Shisou workshop. Compare a group of related scholars' objects of Shisou mark preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pls 45 and 50; an unmarked censer of ding form and very closely related lotus and leiwen design in Bronzen aus der Ming-Dynastie, Galerie Zacke, Vienna, 1987, cat. no. 56; A closely related incense tool vase from the Shuisong Shanfang Collection, exhibited at the International Asian Antiques Fair, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 25; and two further examples, one with a Hu Wenming mark, sold in our New York rooms, 12 September 2018, lot 301.