Nagatani Inc., Chicago, 2nd January 1969.

Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

The rise of Neoconfucianism in the Song dynasty led to a revival of interest in archaic bronze vessels, particularly in specimens inlaid with gold and silver. As a result, artisans of the Song, and subsequent Ming and Qing, dynasties crafted new bronze vessels modeled on the ancient prototypes, of which the present censer is a shining example. A related vessel from the collection of Henri Cernuschi and currently in the Musée Cernuschi, Paris, was included in the exhibition Bronzes de la Chine Imperiale: des Song aux Qing, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, 2013, cat. no. 46. See also a gold and silver-inlaid bronze vessel of the same form, but diminutive in size, in the collection of Mrs. Walter Sedgwick, sold in our London rooms, 2nd July 1968. A larger 'mythical twin bird', very similar to the present but with the wings positioned at a different angle, from the Helen S. Darion Collection, sold in these rooms, 20th Marc🌊h 2019, lot 672.

Other related examples include: one from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, exhibited in Early Chinese Miniatures, China House Gallery/China Institute in America, New York, 1977, cat. no. 222 and later sold at Christie's New York, 1st December 1994, lot 70, attributed to the Song or Ming dynasty; another of different form is illustrated in Christian Deydier, Chinese Bronzes, New York, 1980, pl. 148 and attributed to the Song dynasty; a vessel with a wheel base, attributed to the Ming dynasty and sold in these rooms, 12th April 1990, lot 383; and a mandarin duck-form wa🔥sher attributed to the Ming dynasty and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th November 1985,𓄧 lot 252.