An archaic bronze censer and cover (Boshanlu), Han dynasty

Alvin Lo Oriental Art, New York, 1999.

Collection of Ian and Susan Wilson.

Christie's New York, 17th March 2016, lot 1157.

The boshanlu, or ‘Universal Mountain censer,’ is one of the most recognisable and striking forms of the Han visual canon. Likely arriving in China from Western and Central Asia during the reign of Han Wudi (r. 141-87 BCE), this mountain-shaped censer quickly gained an association with an idealised foreign world and the mythical dwelling place of the Immortals. Compare three related boshanlu of varying proportions excavated from Western Han tombs, illustrated in Guangzhou Han mu / Excavation of the Han Tombs at Guangzhou, Beijing, 1981, pp 231-232; another from the Dayton Bequest to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, acc. no. 2001.4.3A,B; and another, of very similar design to the present, sold in our Paris rooms, 8th November 2022, lot 28.