17TH CENTURY

A bronze incense burner in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with the same inscription cast on the base as the present fangyi, is illustrated in The Literati's Ordinaries: A Proposal of Life from the 17th Century, Taipei, 2019, pl. IV-10 (Fig. 1), where it is dated to the 17th century and noted to be a classic example of literary taste in the late Ming dynasty. This incense burner was also included in the 1996 exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and illustrated in the catalogue on p. 225, p. 99, where the authors describe this group of archaic style bronzes cast with the same inscription (p.228) as follows: "The most famous name in bronze casting in the Southern Song period is that of Chiang Niang-tzu (Madame Chiang). We know that the Chiang family workshop continued through the Yuan dynasty, as there are references to Chiang-style bronzes used as models in casting ritual vessels in the Hsuan-te reign (1426-35) in the early Ming period." They add that the 18th-19th century scholar, Chang T’ing-chi (1768-1848) owned an incense burner with the same inscription, and it was recorded in the catalogue of his collection. Chang also noted that he had seen a number of bronzes of different shapes and sizes with the same inscription.