A rare Chinese blue and white ‘eighteen luohan’ censer, Kang...

Hammer

£26,000

A rare Chinese blue and white ‘eighteen luohan’ censer, Kangxi period, inscribed dedication and cyclical date for 1709, of bombé form, surrounded by expressive figures of the eighteen luohan, flanking an arched reserve inscribed ‘Kangxi 47th year, given to san xianggong by Hebao QingJi who belongs to Xia religion’, 23cm diameter, 14.4cm high, carved hongmu stand, cracks to base

cf. Christie’s, New York, An era of inspiration: 17th century Chinese porcelains from the collection of Julia and John Curtis, 16 March 2015, lot number 3574, for a Kangxi blue and white cylindrical censer featuring a rare ‘eighteen luohan’ design featuring smaller scale figures in a landscape.

More Information

Provenance - UK private collection, 1920s or earlier, thence by family descent.
This collection of late Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain and bronze vessels, lots 137 to 163, has been owned by a single Cotswold family for a number of generations dating back to the 1920s or earlier.
The collection was formerly on display at the family home in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK before the house was sold in the 1980s. Some interior photos taken c.1982 show a number of the pieces on display in the family house and an inventory undertaken in 1948 by the local Campden auctioneer and valuer Alfred Bower lists many of the items. Extracts of the 1948 inventory are included where they correspond to the relevant lots in the sale.

This censer might be part of item 388 on the 1948 inventory incorrectly described as ?3 Chinese Blue and White Cylinder pen holders on carved wood stand Kang Hsi 6? high?. In some old English reference books Chinese censers were often incorrectly described as pen or brush holders.
See the attached photo taken around 1982, showing the ?eighteen luohan? censer on display in the Entrance Hall of the Chipping Campden residence.

The censer has a crack extending from midway on the body curving across next to the foot and up to midway on the body at the inscribed dedication. There is also a firing crack to the inside edge of the foot which is not visible on the interior, typical minor glaze imperfections all over, some slight caramelisation and staining to the glaze to the underside of the censer. The wood stand is slightly misshapen and has a few fine age cracks