A PARCEL-GILT AND SILVER-INLAID VASE, ATTRIBUTED TO HU WENMING

MING DYNASTY, 16TH TO 17TH CENTURY

HEIGHT: 23CM

WEIGHT: 896G

The pear-shaped body is supported on a flared foot, with a tall waisted neck elegantly rising to a rolled lip. The main body is chased in relief against a ringpunched round with four stylised lotus blooms borne on leafy scrolls in gilt. The slender neck is similarly decorated with two bands of entwined floral scrolls divided by gilt fillets, all below a silver-inlaid keyfret band at the rim. The foot encircled by a frieze of florets borne on a foliate scroll.

This delicately executed vase is stylistically similar and closely associated to a group of incense vessels attributed to Hu Wenming, the celebrated master of metalwork in the late Ming dynasty. An incense tool vase depicting similar motifs with a Hu Wenming mark is illustrated in Arts from the Scholar’s Studio , Hong Kong, 1986, pp. 240-241, Catalogue No. 230.