THE 'WAN FAMILY' BRONZE CENSER MARK AND PERIOD OF CHENGHUA

cast in the form of the archaic bronze li ding vessel, the compressed globular body with shallow rounded sides rising to a waisted neck and an everted rim, set with a pair of 'S'-shaped handles pierced with vertical rounded square holes, all supported on three bulging cabriole feet, the exterior brightly inlaid in gold and silver wires with two four-clawed dragon-fish flying above crested waves, each breathing forth a cloud of vapor enclosing a heavenly, two-storey house amidst stylized clouds, all below a band of 'classic' scroll collaring the neck and a frieze of zig-zags at the rim, the handles further detailed with ruyi, key-fret and zig-zags along the edges, the feet decorated with animal heads inlaid in silver with gold encircling the eyes, the base with the Eight Precious Objects inlaid in silver within double circles, centred with a nine-character inscription in regular script Da Ming Chenghua nian Wanjia zao 'Made in the reign of Chenghua period in the Ming dynasty by the Wan family', the metal patinated to an attractive auburn-brown colour with golden undertones

Collection of Stephen Junkunc III, Chicago.
Christie's New York, 21st September 1995, lot 289.

Apart from few minor nicks along the edges and some original casting pitts in the metal on the base (now black), the censer is in very good condition. A few minor sections of metal inlays are missing. There are a few light surface scratches on the base, consistent with age.
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Vessels bearing a Chenghua reign mark and of the period are extremely rare, and even rarer are those signed by the maker as on the present finely cast and decorated censer. The inscription on the base reads and may be translated as follows:

Da Ming Chenghua nian Wan jia zao.
Made in the reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty by the Wan family.

See a closely related censer decorated with Sanskrit letters inlaid with gold and floral design in silver-wire inlay, in the Musée Cernuschi, Paris, with the same inscription on the base illustrated in R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, London, 1963, p. 137, pl. 60, where it is noted that it is rare to find reign marks other than Xuande on Ming bronzes. Another ding form censer with gold and silver inlay decoration, in the British Museum, London, is illustrated ibid., pl. 58.

The dragon motif on this piece is characteristic of those seen on Chenghua blue-and-white porcelain; for example see a dish painted with two dragons chasing a flaming pearl included in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-Hua Porcelain Ware, Taipei, 2003, cat. no. 1, together with a bowl of this design, cat. no. 4, both in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.