A RARE BRONZE 'FLORAL' BRUSHPOT, BITONGXuande six-character mark, 17th century Heavily cast with tapering sides rising to a flaring rim, supported on three bracket-feet, the exterior with gnarled branches issuing camellias, prunus and narcissus, the bronze with a dark-brown patina. 15cm (5 3/4in) high. Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 十七世紀 早春花卉紋銅筆筒 「大明宣德年製」款 Provenance : J. Salomonsen, Berlin, registered on 28 April 1904, collection no.72 Peony collection, Hong Kong Nicholas Grindley, London Berwald Oriental Art, 5 November 2018 來源 ：柏林 J. Salomonsen，1904年4月28日入冊，編號 72 香港 Peony collection 倫敦古董商 Nicholas Grindley 倫敦古董商 Berwald Oriental Art，2018年11月5日 Bronze brushpots are very rare and were likely developed in form further to bronze or copper incense burners, made during the late Ming dynasty, such as a copper censer, Hu Wenming mark, 16th/17th century, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by R.Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes , London, 1990 p.67, fig.51-3; and see also a bronze brushpot, attributed to Hu Wenming, 17th century, illustrated in Arts from the Scholar's Studio , Hong Kong, 1986, p.190, no.168, which was later sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 176. However, a further line ofparison could be drawn to carved bamboo brushpots, as exemplified in a number of examples dating to the 17th and 18th century, illustrated by I.Yee and L.C.S.Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving , Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, pp.234-235, 266-269, nos.51, 66-67.