A GOLD-SPLASHED BRONZE 'LION' INCENSE BURNER 16TH – 17TH CENTURY

of archaistic gui form, cast with a compressed body rising from a short foot to a short neck bordered with thin raised bands, the shoulder flanked by a pair of lion masks, the base with a recessed cartouche enclosing an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark, the exterior liberally splashed with gold
16.4 cm, 6 3/8 in.

Provenance:
A closely related gold-splashed incense burner of similar archaistic gui form from the J. de Lopes bequest and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with similar lion-mask handles is illustrated in Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pl. 15 left, dated as 16th/17th century.