LITTLETON & HENNESSY ASIAN ART
Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art is an art advisory group specialising in Asian works of art. We hold several exhibitions a year in our London gallery, in the heart of St. James’s. We are also regular exhibitors at various art fairs in the world, including the prestigious European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in New York and Fine Art Asia Hong Kong. We have established numerous world records in the fields of Chinese porcelains, bronzes and paintings.
Later Chinese Bronzes
We have great pleasure in presenting this small, select group of later Chinese bronzes during ‘Asian Art in London 2020’. Spanning the Song through Qing dynasties, this group is the product of many years of collecting as each has their own character and story.
During this challenging time for the world we pause to look back through pieces drawn from different periods of post-archaic Chinese history and hope these simple yet vigorous examples of bronze craftsmanship provide a little respite for the viewer.
Catalogue link: https://cutt.ly/Later-Chinese-Bronzes
1 Princes Place
Duke Street, St James’s
London
SW1Y 6DE
29th October – 6th November
Mon-Fri 10.00-17.00
Sat 31st Oct 12.00-18.00
Sun 1st Nov 12.00-20.00
Mark Slaats
Phone +44 (0)20 7930 0888
Email mark@littletonandhennessy.com
Website www.littletonandhennessy.com
Dimensions: the censer 30 cm. diam.; 41.5 cm. high
Provenance:
- A private Asian Collection
The censer has a deep rounded bowl rising from three conical legs to a flat rim and two upright bracket handles. It is decorated with a band of ‘taotie’ masks with central flanges; followed by a band of archaistic dragons and downward blades. The legs are cast with vertical flanges above two raised bands and cold worked with ‘taotie’ masks. The bronze has a deep dark brown patina. The censer is fitted with an elaborate wood stand carved with a dragon emerging from clouds, and a cover with further clouds and bats.
The dating of the current censer is consistent with the thermoluminescence test, with two samples taken from the core material inside the legs, Certificate Number C110j84.
Dimensions: 27cm high
Provenance: An English private collection, acquired in the 1990s and 2000s
The vase of archaistic ‘hu’ form, the neck finely cast with horizontal sections of archaistic decoration against a ‘leiwen’ ground and bands of intertwined scrolls, flanked by a pair of dragons with long, wide tongues. The bulbous body divided into separate sections by two bands in high relief. The high foot with intertwined ‘kui’ dragons on a ‘leiwen’ diaper ground. The vase has a rich, dark patina with traces of red lacquer.
Dimensions: 33.6 cm long
Provenance:
- An English private collection, acquired in New York, 2000
- Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection – Objects of Contemplation (8 April 2010), lot 1730
The bronze sceptre superbly cast to imitate a naturally formed stalk of ‘lingzhi’, with clusters of irregular knots and perforations. The gnarled branch with attendant ‘lingzhi’ heads. The surface of the sceptre has a warm, deep brown patina with golden undertones and patches of russet brown. The underside of the sceptre inscribed with an apocryphal Xuande mark.
Dimensions: 21.2cm high
Provenance: A private Irish collection
The censer is cast in archaistic ‘liding’ form, with a deep rounded body below a galleried mouth rim, flanked by a pair of loop handles and supported on three tubular legs. The censer is finely inlaid with silver wire, the body decorated with fierce archaistic ‘taotie’ masks, all on a ‘leiwen’ ground. The legs inlaid with cicada leaves below further ‘leiwen’ motifs.
The censer has a later wood cover, with carnelian finial, and wood stand.
Compare a similar ‘liding’ with inlay in gold and silver from the Collection of Ulrich Hausmann, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, lot 3335.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C119g91, dated 20 June 2019, is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Dimensions: 30cm high
Provenance: An English private collection, acquired in the 1990s and 2000s
The vase is robustly cast in a slight pear-shape, the body rising above a high, splayed foot, the waisted neck with a subtly everted rim. The neck is flanked by a pair of plain tubular handles. The central band around the neck decorated with ‘taotie’ masks in high relief on a ‘leiwen’ ground. The base with an archaistic inscription within a recessed panel. The surface of the vase has a deep brown patina with traces of red lacquer and malachite incrustations.
Dimensions: 46.5cm long
Provenance: David Kidd Collection (1926-1996), Kyoto, Japan
The ‘lingzhi’ shaped head decorated in silver with two five-clawed dragons amongst ‘ruyi’ clouds contesting a central flaming pearl. The front of the arched shaft inlaid with eight quatrefoil cartouches containing the attributes of the Eight Daoist Immortals’ on a ‘wan’ diaper ground. The back with a twelve-character silver-inlaid inscription in archaistic script. The end of the shaft ending in a double silver-inlaid ‘ruyi’.
Compare a near identical example with a Qianlong mark from the Ji Zhen Zhai Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong, 9 July 2020, lot 2906. Another example was exhibited at ‘Asian Art in London 2007’ and is published in ‘Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art - Arts for the Scholar’ no. 2, p. 6-7.
Enquiry Form
