Antique Decorative Censer, Chinese, Bronze, Incense Burner, Victorian, C.1850

This is an antique decorative censer. A Chinese, brass incense burner with dragon and elephant motif, dating to the late Victorian period, circa 1900. Appealing Qing dynasty censer...

This is an antique incense burner. An Oriental, brass censer, dating to the late Victorian period, circa 1900. Appealing golden tones and of tactile f...

Incense burner, bronze. It was made in China in the 20th century. One can notice elephants, bats and pine trees as decoration. It comes apart in three parts, and can of course be use...

A Chinese four-legged barrel-form brass urn cast and engraved with archaistic decoration from the 20th century. The gently rounded sides are cast with the dispersed elements of two taotie masks, Archaistic auspicious beasts formed by a pair of stylized and confronted dragons which constitutes the features of this mythical creature, abstractly rendered in low-relief hooked curls. Two bands of kui or passing dragons flank the taotie ornamentation on the belly, all upon an engraved and very finely delineated white leiwen ground symbolizing thunder. Raised on four atlantes with a few anatomical engraved details, the urn possesses a flat circular lid decorated with stylized birds and topped with a phoenix-shaped knob with a ring, a propitious symbol in Chinese art. The white engraved ground nicely contrasting with the dark patina along with the Archaistic traditional low relief decoration echoes Chinese archaic ritual bronzes used in ceremonies or buried in the tombs of the elites for use in the afterlife. This Chinese barrel...