Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A LARGE AND RARE CHINESE PARCEL-GILT COPPER 'BOYS' FOOT WARMER
HU WENMING MARK, DATED 1603

The body decorated with precious objects and flowers highlighted in gilt all reserved against a diaper ground, the reticulated cover decorated with a central panel enclosing five boys playing around a fenced lotus pond, with one riding a hobby horse and another banging a drum, all amongst rockwork, clouds, pine and wutong trees, set with a double swing handle, the base with a twelve-character mark reading Wanli guichou ba yue Yun Jian Hu Wen Ming zhi (made by Hu Wenming of Yunjian in the eighth month of the guichou year), 3.3kg, 29.5cm. (2)

For other works by Hu Wenming with cyclical date marks, see the incense burners sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd June 2015, lot 3311 and Sotheby's Hong Kong, Water, Pine And Stone Retreat Collection, Scholarly Art II, 3rd April 2012, lot 118 and Water, Pine And Stone Retreat Collection: Later Bronzes, 7th April 2014, lot 205. See also Sworders, 7th November 2025 for a Hu Wenming basin similarly dated to the guichou year. For other works by Hu Wenming depicting boys at play, refer to lot 100 sold in these rooms, 11th November 2025. Compare also with the hand warmer illustrated in Paul Moss, Emperor, Scholar, Artisan, Monk, no.125. See also Christie's Hong Kong, 1st December 2009, lot 1967 for another related hand warmer depicting boys at play. Furthermore, a jardinière by Hu Wenming depicting a similar scene of boys within a garden landscape was also sold at Christie's New York, 20th September 2013, lot 1542.

明萬曆 銅局部鎏金嬰戲圖紋爐
《萬曆癸丑年八月雲間胡文明製》