A CHINESE GILT-COPPER ALLOY HAND WARMER AND COVER

A CHINESE GILT-COPPER ALLOY HAND WARMER AND COVER
WANG XU MARK, 17TH CENTURY

The bulbous body set with a swing handle, the cover cast, pierced and chased with a design of Zhong Kui and Kui Xing with a boy on his back below a pine tree and a waterfall, the base incised a signature for Wang Xu and a poem, with a paper label for the Finer Collection 'HW 51', 834g, 13cm. (2)

Provenance: purchased from Gerard Hawthorn, 28th July 2016.

Cf. Gerard Hawthorn Ltd, Oriental Works of Art, June 1998, no. 35 & no. 36 for related examples bearing the same mark and with inscriptions to the bases. See also Bonham's London, 10th November 2016, lot 90 for another related hand warmer.

十七世紀 鎏金銅鐘馗捉鬼題詩手爐
銘文：斗桂桂枝隨手折，蟾宮獨步熟爭先，古香王旭。

From the Finer Collection of later bronzes and hand warmers.