Lot 122
RARE BRONZE INCENSE BURNER IN THE FORM OF A DUCK STANDING ON TOAD
MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art
Auction: 3 November 2023 from 09:00 GMT
Description
明 銅寶鴨戲金蟾薰爐
cast standing with one leg on a three-legged toad, head turned to the right and beak ajar, the wings with plumage finely rendered and opening up to the vessel, on a bespoke wooden stand
Dimensions
35.2cm high; 3760g
Provenance
Provenance: Leonard Gow (1859–1936), thence by family descent.
Born in Glasgow, the son of a shipping magnate, Leonard Gow attended Glasgow University in 1884 to spend a year studying Moral Philosophy. He became senior partner in the shipping company Gow, Harrison & Co, director of the Burmah Oil Company and chairman of several other companies. A noted philanthropist, he founded the Leonard Gow Lectureship on Medical Diseases of Infancy and Childhood in 1919. He was given an Honorary Degree in 1934. He began collecting Impressionist art, and Chinese and Japanese porcelain around 1880. His collection of well over 400 prints by Muirhead Bone, which includes many rare impressions, was presented by his trustees in 1965 to the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow. A selection of Chinese porcelains from Leonard Gow, notably lot 354, a pair of Yellow and Green 'Dragon' bowls, Yongzheng mark and period, were sold in this saleroom on 2 December 2014.
As remembered by the current owner (the great-grandson of Leonard Gow), the present lot was displayed in the hall at his grandparents' family home at Hallhill, Renfrewshire during the 1960s and 70s.
Footnote
Note: Bronze incense burner in the form of a goose or duck, either standing one-legged or two, is a relatively common subject matter. The three-legged toad, known as jinchan in Chinese, is a beloved mythical animal believed to beckon wealth, usually depicted with the immortal Liu Hai. However, it is unusual to see the combination of a duck standing on a toad. A comparable example, dated to the Ming dynasty, is in the Guanfu Museum, note the similarity of the composition of the duck and toad. According to the museum note, 'duck', in Chinese ya, is a homophonic pun for 'press' or 'insistence', and the toad symbolises wealth. The duck standing sideway on the toad implies a guaranteed unexpected, or sudden gain of wealth.
Sold examples of only the duck, Ming dynasty, standing on one leg like the present lot, can be found in auctions, one at Sotheby's Paris, 16 June 2022, lot 72, the other at Christie's New York, 29 Jun 2021, lot 99. A related example of a bronze 'Liu Hai and toad' censer, 17th century, was sold at Sotheby's London, 18 May 2018, lot 437.