Lot 3115. A Pair of Doucai Tripod Incense Burners, Qing Dynasty, Danning Tang Zhi Marks and Period of Daoguang (1821-1850); 32 cm., 12 5/8  in. Estimate 350,000 — 450,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,240,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

each with a globular body raised on three stout baluster legs below a short cylindrical neck and a flanged rim, set with two S-shaped handles issuing from the shoulder and reinforced with a tab, brightly decorated in doucai enamels with four large lotus blossoms of alternating aubergine and yellow colour, each placed below a spray of peaches supporting a shou character in iron-red and wreathed in multi-coloured foliate scrolls interlinked with bats biting on a tassel, with further detached sprays of lotus on the legs and bats and lotus around the neck and on the handles, the base detailed with a flower medallion within a pink circle, the edges of the handles and outer rim picked out with multi-coloured key-fret, the latter inscribed in iron red with a four-character Danning Tang zhi hall mark within a horizontal panel reserved in white.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 April 2014