A BRONZE INCENSE BURNER, GUI Hu Wenming seal mark, late Ming DynastyA BRONZE INCENSE BURNER, GUIHu Wenming seal mark, late Ming DynastyOf archaistic form with a compressed globular body raised on a high foot cast with a band of lingzhi fugus growing on leafy tendrils, the body decorated with continuous foliate lotus scrolls and a band of the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems' bajixiang below the slightly everted rim, all on diaper ground, flanked by a pair of loop handles with key-fret pattern issuing from dragon heads, the base with an intaglio cast four-character 'Hu Wenming zhi' seal mark within a cartouche. 14cm (5 1/2in) wide.Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價明晚期 八吉祥蓮花紋簋式爐「胡文明製」篆書刻款The present lot has a Hu Wenming seal mark. Hu Wenming is considered to be amongst the most accomplished bronze casters of the late Ming dynasty, however pieces with his name continued to be made well into the Qing dynasty. The shape of the incense burner is based on archaic prototypes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. See a similar bronze incense burner, with similar Hu Wenming mark, illustrated by Sydney L.Moss, Ltd., The Second Bronze Age: Later Chinese Metalwork, Hong Kong, 1991, no.86. Compare with a related parcel-gilt bronze incense burner, Hu Wenming four-character mark, 17th century, which was sold at Christie's London, 8 November 2013, lot 1282.