The Finer Collection of Bronzes and Hand Warmers - 11th November 2025
Lot 40
A CHINESE COPPER ALLOY ‘BA GUA’ TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER
Estimate £1,000 - £2,000 | Hammer £889
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Description
A CHINESE COPPER ALLOY ‘BA GUA’ TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER
HU WENMING MARK, LATE MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY
Of cylindrical form rising from lion-mask feet, cast around the exterior with a band of the ba gua, the Eight Trigrams, within borders of Buddhist emblems, with a mark reading Hu Wenming zhi, with a paper label for the Finer Collection 'CB 112', 507g, 9.5cm.
Provenance: formerly from The Erik Nordstrom Collection (1884-1971).
Cf. Lin Pe-yu, Censers, Incense Burners and Hand Warmers: Wellington Wang Collection, no.151 for a related example.
明晚期/清早期 銅八卦紋爐
《胡文明製》
Erik Nordstrom was commissioned after a recommendation by Swedish minister Gustav Oscar Wallenberg, the Envoyé of Japan and China, as Post General in Shanghai at the Royal Chinese General Post Office in 1910.
The Eight Trigrams (ba gua), Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui, consist of broken and solid lines which represent yin and yang respectively. They were probably first used by ancient diviners and later developed into a system of philosophy. Each Trigram represents a natural force: heaven, marsh, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain and earth. They also symbolise movement, emotions and human relationships and have been used in China to predict patterns and cycles in nature and humanity.
From the Finer Collection of later bronzes and hand warmers.