China - Miniature Glazed Terracotta Funerary Stove - Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)

On the carefully gridded upper surface, two recesses hold a tripod pot and a small bowl—both removable—also coated in a glossy green glaze. The slightly bulbous pot still bears the marks of hand-modeling: fingerprints, deliberate irregularities, and small areas of wear where the glaze has eroded, revealing the light clay beneath. The more understated bowl acts as a mirror of light, concentrating the chromatic variations of green, sometimes dark, sometimes translucent. This small terracotta structure, enlivened by a green glaze with deep reflections, belongs to the sensitive world of mingqi, funerary objects intended to accompany the deceased in the symbolic continuity of their daily life. The piece resembles a miniature stove, its rectangular block form punctuated by a decoration of incised bricks, evoking the walls of a kitchen or bakehouse in a peasant dwelling. Two arched openings in the facade perhaps represent the hearths where a protective flame was once kept burning. Through its formal vocabulary, the piece evokes essential domestic practices: cooking, preparing, and offering. Within the funerary context of the Ming dynasty, these miniature objects reaffirmed the nurturing role of the living towards their ancestors, ensuring their material comfort in the afterlife. The gentle wear of the glaze, its gaps, its cracks, as well as the whitish deposits on the vertical surfaces, attest to a long burial in a tomb, giving it the patina so characteristic of old and intact pieces. Through its solid simplicity and the quiet emotion it conveys, this miniature funerary stove bears witness to the warmth of vanished hearths, the continuity of daily gestures, and the timeless desire to provide for the well-being of the dead. A piece that is both humble and profoundly moving, emblematic of the material poetry of Ming China. Origin: China Period: Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) Dimensions: Length 13 cm; height 8 cm; width 7.5 cm Provenance: French private collection.