Bidspirit auction | Chinese Bronze Dragon-Handled Covered Censer

Chinese Bronze Dragon-Handled Covered Censer - Chinese bronze covered censer of archaistic design, the rounded body raised on four pierced scroll-form feet and fitted with opposing dragon-form handles. The domed cover is richly pierced with scrolling foliate ornament and surmounted by a coiled dragon finial, while a leiwen or ?thunder-pattern? band encircles the vessel beneath the lid. The combination of dragons, openwork decoration, key-fret borders, and elaborate supports reflects the historicizing decorative vocabulary favored in Qing-period bronze work.The underside bears a cast six-character Da Ming Xuande Nian Zhi mark, translating to ?Made during the Xuande reign of the Great Ming.? Xuande-period bronzes were highly influential and frequently referenced by later makers; the elaborate modeling and strongly decorative treatment of this example are most consistent with a 19th-century Qing revival interpretation rather than an early Ming original. 15.5” tall