A BRONZE CENSER WITH WU BANG ZUO MARK 17/18TH... Lot 17

A BRONZE CENSER WITH WU BANG ZUO MARK 17/18TH CENTURY 19.5cm diam the bulbous body with two lion-head handles, bears a"Da Ming Xuande wunian jiandu gongbu guanchen Wu Bangzuo zao mark". Made for the Board of Works under the Supervision of Wu Bangzuo in the Fifth Year of Xuande. The inscription is one of a series of apocryphal ones stating that Wu Bangzuo, the Minister of the Ministry of Works in the 5th year of the Xuande reign, supervised production which tended to appear on late Ming and Qing incense burners. Whether or not such an inscription appeared on any Xuande period bronzes is unclear, as there do not appear to be any credible extant examples, but it became a standard late Ming or Qing designation 19.5cm wide