A rare and large imperial blue and white rectangular 'dragon' incense burner, Ming dynasty, Zhengde period | 明正德 青花穿花龍紋長方熏爐

The angularity of the present incense burner, highlighted by its archaistic handles and flanges, is harmoniously balanced by the freely painted dragons and flowers in soft blue washes, which is one of the most characteristic decorative styles of the Zhengde period. This type of incense burners is very rare, and the depiction of the dragon with a scrolling bifurcated tail and the animal mask feet are highly unusual for the period.

No other example appears to have been published. Dragons with bifurcated tails can be found, for example, on a Zhengde mark and period bowl in the collection of the British Museum, London, accession no. 1991.253.53; and on another bowl, sold in these rooms, 24th November 1981, lot 104. Zhengde blue and white incense burners of various forms, such as a lotus-decorated example with a quatrelobed mouth and without handles, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Ming Underglaze Blue Porcelains: Decorative Motifs and Glazes, Taipei, 2016, pl. 51; and another ovoid censer, also without handles, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 1997.1.12, sold twice in our London rooms, 13th-14th November 1972, lot 370, and 21st June 1983, lot 251.

器形摹古，淺藍繪游龍，穿梭蓮花間，溢顯正德年間青花淡雅之風，與方正莊嚴的外觀恰好剛柔並濟。分岔龍尾、獸首紋足，均甚罕見，未見近例，推想應為皇室特製。