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A rare Arita incense burner modelled as a bird cage, Edo Period (1615-1886), circa 1700 image 1
A rare Arita incense burner modelled as a bird cage, Edo Period (1615-1886), circa 1700 image 2
A rare Arita incense burner modelled as a bird cage, Edo Period (1615-1886), circa 1700 image 3
Lot 161

A rare Arita incense burner modelled as a bird cage, Edo Period (1615-1886), circa 1700

1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£500 - £600

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A rare Arita incense burner modelled as a bird cage, Edo Period (1615-1886), circa 1700

The form with rounded shoulders, painted with arched panels of landscapes, Ho ho birds above, all in underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel, five pierced holes to top and ring suspension loop in centre, on four stud feet, the front with a large heart-shaped aperture, all highlighted in gilding, 15cm high

Footnotes

Provenance
With Christophe Perlès, 2017

Literature
White, Mary, Living at the Whites' House, Vol.4, 2023, p.146

This kind of trompe l'oeil incense burner can be found in various shapes. Cricket box-shaped incense burners seem to appear slightly more often; there are examples in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (inv. EA1978.535) and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv. AK-NM6355), and a pair was sold at Sotheby's in London, 29 September 2022, lot 27.

Additional information