403.
A SMALL PARTIALLY GILT AND SILVER-INLAID JARLET
Ming dynasty, Wanli period
6 cm high
Hu Wenming zhi four-character mark.
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 4809.
This small vase has the typical decorative and technical features of the works by Hu Wenming, whose seal four-character incised signature appears on its base.
The decoration consists on the body of two large gilt and relief taotie masks, the shoulder with silver inlaid lappets, the neck with an incised leiwen frieze.
Hu Wenming is the most famous bronze caster active during the late Ming dynasty. According to the scarce ancient documentary evidence available, he lived and worked in Yunjian, modern Songjiang, not far from Shanghai. Although his dates of birth and death remain unknown, he was presumably active during the Wanli period (U. Hausmann, Later Chinese Bronzes in Documentary Chinese Works of Art in Scholars’ Taste, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London 1983, p. 235; see also Mowry 1993, pp. 62-66).
His speciality was the production of objects for the scholar’s studio, and especially items used for the incense. He took often inspiration from archaic models, in the choice of shapes as in the decorative motifs.
