Lot 469. An archaic bronze incense burner and cover and a bronze 'ear' cup, Han Dynasty. Estimate £6,000 - £8,000. Sold for £ 1,912 (€ 2,231). © Bonhams

The incense burner raised on three curling legs terminating in hoof feet, the hemispherical lower body fitted with a curved handle, the hinged openwork domed cover pierced with meandering foliage, 14.7cm (5 3/4in) long; the ear cup, of oval form with deep rounded and slightly flaring sides flanked by two crescent-shaped handles raised on a flat base, the bronze with extensive malachite encrustation, 17cm (6 3/4in) wide.

Provenance: Professor Peter H. Plesch (1918-2013) and Mrs Traudi Plesch OBE (1921-2013), no.B417 (label; the ear cup).

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Winter Exhibition, London, 2006, no.12 (the small bronze incense burner).

Note: Professor Peter Hariolf Plesch, friend and doctor of Albert Einstein, left Frankfurt with his father in 1933. Educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was fascinated by Chinese glass and had the billiard room in his house converted into a private museum. Also a collector of Song ceramics and a long-standing member of the Oriental Ceramic Society, he once lent a ruyao narcissus bowl he purchased from the J.T. Tai Collection to the Society's Song exhibition.

See a related pair of bronze 'ear' cups, illustrated by B.Karlgren and J.Wirgin, Chinese Bronzes: The Natanael Wessén Collection, Stockholm, 1969, pl.46.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021