Art History Animalia

For #GooseDay 🪿:

Incense burner in the form of a goose

China, Ming dynasty, early 15th c.

Bronze, H. 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm); W. 18 3/4 in. (47 6 cm)

Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 2020.335ab

“This incense burner is an extremely rare example of an imperially-commissioned bronze from the early Ming dynasty. Cleverly designed so that the fragrant incense is exhaled from the bird’s open beak, the censer artfully combines naturalism, ornamental detail, and a sense of history as it references similar incense burners first created during the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) and revived during the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties. These earlier examples are typically simpler and less animated. The massive size, lively form, and meticulous details of the current work perfectly demonstrate the new taste and high standards of the early Ming period, when the imperial art patronage reached a new peak.”

sahumador (incense burner) in the form of an armadillo Huánuco, Peru, 19th century silver, 24 x 34 x 15cm Colección Barbosa-Stern