17TH/18TH CENTURY

Yu tang zheng wan translates "precious trinket of the jade hall". Shi Sou, together with Hu Wenming, was one of the two best known bronze makers of the late Ming dynasty. Rose Kerr in Later Chinese Bronzes, London,1990, suggests the large numbers of bronzes bearing Shi Sou marks might mean the name could have been a trade mark for a numbers of entrepreneurs coordinating the work of several makers. Like this censor, most bronzes bearing the name Shi Sou, translating "old man Shi", are inlaid with silver wire.