Xuande Incense Burner (Three-Legged Copper Censer with Upright Ears)

The Xuande incense burners represented another pinnacle of Chinese copper casting technology after the bronze wares of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The Xuande incense burners refer to copper censers made by the royal court during Emperor Xuande's reign of the Ming Dynasty. They derived the name from the mark "Made during Xuande's reign of the Ming Dynasty" usually found on the bottom. Later copper censers modeled after this shape, style, and mark were also so named.

According to an ancient monograph on the incense burners of Xuande's reign, in 1428, the king of Siam sent several tons of refined copper as tribute to the Ming emperor. This kind of refined copper material, called "fengmotong" (literally "wind-milled copper"), glimmered like gold.

Emperor Xuande decreed to use the material to cast 3,365 royal bronze wares for sacrificial ceremonies and ornaments, in imitation of the bronze ritual instruments of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and porcelain wares from famous kilns in the Song Dynasty.

The incense burners of Xuande's reign, made with imported material upon the emperor's decree and modeled after classic utensils, became everlasting legends based on the descriptions preserved in ancient books.

This three-legged copper censer with two upright ears and a round belly was modeled after the style of the three-legged porcelain censers

from the Ge Kiln in the Song Dynasty, a typical design of the incense burners of Xuande's reign. After centuries of weathering, the censer formed a thick coating due to oxidation, indicating that it was long used in the imperial palace.

Only a few copper censers made during Xuande's reign have been preserved to this day. From the collection of the Qing court, this censer is the only of its kind cast in the Xuande's reign in the Palace Museum.

銅沖耳乳足爐底部款識

Inscriptions on the bottom of the three-legged copper censer with upright ears.

宣德爐（銅沖耳乳足爐）

宣德爐是繼商周青銅器之后，中國銅器鑄造工藝的又一個高峰。

宣德爐，原指明代宣德年間宮廷鑄造的銅質香爐，因爐底鑄有“大明宣德年制”印款而得名。后經歷代仿制，凡形制、款識與之相近的銅爐均獲此名。《宣德鼎彝譜》載，明宣德三年（1428），暹羅國王向中國進獻數萬斤精煉銅料，色如黃金，稱“風磨銅”。明宣宗下旨，依此銅料，仿照商周青銅禮器及宋代名窯瓷器，鑄造供祭祀和陳設用的皇家銅器3365件。舶來的原料、天子的旨意、經典的藍本和精確的記述，令宣德爐成為傳奇。

這件銅沖耳乳足爐，兩耳三足、腹部渾圓，仿宋代哥窯三足爐，為宣德爐經典造型。爐壁經長年積累，包漿厚實，可見曾在宮中長期使用。

如今明代宣德時期所造銅爐極為罕見。這件銅爐屬清宮舊藏，也是故宮博物院所藏唯一一件明代宣德時期鑄造的傳世珍品。