A PARCEL-GILT-BRONZE INCENSE BURNER AND COVER Xuande six-character seal mark, 17th century (2)A PARCEL-GILT-BRONZE INCENSE BURNER AND COVERXuande six-character seal mark, 17th century The cover cast in openwork with relief decoration of dragons and phoenix among billowing clouds highlighted in gilt, surmounted by a lotus-petal finial, the body supported on four raised mythical beast-head feet, the tapering rectangular body decorated with mythical creatures emerging from the waves, flanked by a pair of mask handles. 17cm (6 3/4in) wide. (2).十七世紀 部分鎏金龍鳳海水瑞獸紋香爐帶蓋「大明宣德年製」楷書款Examples of similar incense burners and covers are mostly from the Kangxi period. Relatively portable, such incense burners were most likely made for domestic use rather than for temples. A related bronze incense burner and cover, dated to 1675, was excavated from a Qing dynasty tomb near Beijing Normal University; see Su Tianjun, 'Beijing xijiao Xiaoxitian Qingdai muzang fajue jianbao', Wenwu, no.147, 1963, p.57, fig.18. The depiction of mythical beasts on water is typical of the period, most likely because of a late fifteenth-century revival of interest in ancient texts, notably the Shanhai jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), a compendium replete with descriptions of geography, natural history, and mythology. The availability of various illustrated editions of the Shanhai jing from the late sixteenth century onward quickly led to the appearance of new motifs in the decorative arts; this is especially true of ceramics, an industry that had long relied on woodblock illustrations as rich sources of visual motifs. The seemingly endless inventory of strange beasts and figures from this classic work would also inspire bronze artisans, who quickly followed potters and adapted the images on vessels such as incense burners, which were always in demand.Compare with a related parcel-gilt bronze incense burner and cover, Kangxi, illustrated in Later Chinese Bronzes: The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert E. Kresko Collections, Saint Louis, 2008, pp.100-101.A related parcel-gilt 'dragon and phoenix' incense burner, Xuande mark, 18th century, was sold at Bonhams London, 5 November 2009, lot 37.public_sentiment_keywords: tomb+Dynastyis_parse: 20230413image: yuzhan_bonhams_item/51930818.jpgsold_price_type: £