Small Bronze Miniature Perfume Burner. Xuande Brand.

Small tripod miniature incense burner of simple form in cast bronze. The two handles are unusually very thin. Below we can see the 6 characters of the reign of Xuande of the Ming Dynasty. The bronze is old, the beautiful patina attests to it. However, it is difficult to date it exactly. Usually, the bronzes bearing the mark of Xuande are from the 17th century. A wooden base and lid were added later, probably in the 19th century. It should be noted that the cover does not fit perfectly as it has been turned and therefore is flat whereas the bronze is slightly curved, it is very subtle but can be guessed from the front photo. 45mm high, with the base 90mm. 85mm wide. It is very rare to find such a small censer. It is certainly a tiny censer for a scholar's table.