Early 15th century The gently tapered cylindrical body raised on three gilt-bronze ruyi feet, the exterior exquisitely decorated enamelled with three large lotus blooms rendered with multi-coloured petals, each borne on a gilt-bronze undulating stem issuing red, yellow, blue, green and white leaves and a further lotus bloom, all on a bright turquoise ground. 5.7cm (2 1/4in) diam. 注脚 十五世紀初 銅胎掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋如意三足小爐 It is rare to find an early Ming dynasty incense burner of small scale but with such high quality, in which the enamels have been lavishly executed and preserved. The wires are used as if in a drawing, not only outlining and enclosing the colours but also delineating detail within monochrome cells. Each of the three lotus blooms is different with variously rendered and coloured petals. Compare the similarly complex lotus flowers and scrolling foliage on an incense burner, first half of the 15th century, from the collections of Mrs M.J. Shepherd and Frederick Knight, now in the Uldry collection, illustrated by H.Brinker and A.Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné: Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1984. pl.13, and another cloisonné enamel beaker vase, early Ming dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 1: Cloisonné in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, no.19. See a related gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel incense burner, Yuan/early Ming dynasty, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 30 May 2017, lot 102. 此三足爐精巧別緻，琺瑯釉色明潤，瑩亮潤澤，掐絲工藝一絲不苟，琺瑯釉彩帶有典型的明代早期風格，屬於明早期內廷造掐絲琺瑯文房器。參看類似的一件十五世紀初掐絲琺瑯三足爐，著錄於《Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection》，蘇黎世，1965年，圖版13。另見一件清宮舊藏明早期掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋出戟尊，《故宮博物院藏品大系：琺瑯器編1: 元明掐絲琺瑯》，北京，2011，圖版19。 邦瀚斯香港曾售出一件元末明初掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮三足爐，其紋飾佈局與本拍品類似，2017年5月30日，拍品編號102。