An elegant and large cast iron burner from Shanxi province. Dim.: LxDxH 38x27,5x25,5cm. There's text on three sides. One of it reads Jiajing 4th year (1525). Other parts of the text panels are a list of family names; people who donated money to make the burner. The lower part of the burner shows very strong similarity to furniture from the period. Inside the burner is open without a bottom. Technically it must have been too complicated to cast it in one piece including a bottom. Instead there's a shallow rim to hold a seperate bottom from whatever material to keep the soil inside. Condition: considering the age the oxidation is not too strong. The burner is not cleaned and left in the condition found. Most of the text stands clear against the background. There are some patches where characters are lost due to stronger oxidation. At one side there's old damage to a window at the midsection. This may as well be a casting flaw instead of damage. There's an old crack running through the lower section as visible on one of the pictures. 5.400 euro