Lot 3192. A gold hand-warmer, Qing dynasty, 18th century; width 12.8 cm., 5 in., 18 carat gold. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot Sold 680,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of octagonal form with rounded shoulders, decorated on each side with a quatrefoil lobed panels each containing phoenix amidst clouds and flowers, set with a key-fret band around the rim, fitted with a pierced cover further decorated with a phoenix on a reticulated wan-diaper ground, a thirteen-character inscription chased to one of the swing handles bawu sui jin gong zhong shiqi liang wu (qian?) san fen ('[Made in the] new year of the 85th year, gold weighing 17.53 ounces'), together with a slender stoker with an ingot-shaped head fitted on the side of the censer.

Note: Compare a hand-warmer of related form in Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty, Asian Art Museum, pl. 112.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2011