Lot 34. A rare blue and white censer and cover, Longqing six-character mark and of the period (1567-1572); 12.8cm diam. Sold for €8,320.  Photo Bonhams.

Of compressed round shape supported on a straight foot, the rim set with a pair of animal mask handles, painted around the body in varying shades of deep blue with flowers and shrubs issuing from rockwork, the cover with a central opening in the form of two conjoined coins, similarly decorated, wood stand.

Provenance: ollection of Consul General Heinrich Betz (1873-1957), acquired in China before 1945, thence by descent to this son, Erwin Betz (Tianjin 1907-Bonn 1982)
Nagel, 14 May 1999, lot 1209a.

Note: Compare a similarly shaped censer without its cover dated to the Wanli/Tianqi period in the Butler Collection, published in Teresa Canepa and Katharine Butler, Leaping the Dragon Gate: The Sir Michael Butler Collection of 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain, London, 2021, no.II.1.28, p.82. Compare also with an incense burner with decoration of the Eight Immortals, dated 1571, from the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, accession-no. 1979.783.useum, Taipei, published in Masterpieces of Chinese Writing Material in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1971, pl.2, no.2.

Bonhams - Cornette de Saint Cyr. CHINESE ART FROM A GERMAN FAMILY COLLECTION, Paris, 26 October 2023