A rare bronze incense burner, Mark and period of Xuande. Photo:Sotheby's

raised on a slightly splayed foot, the compressed globular body rising to a waisted neck and a slightly everted rim, the neck flanked by a pair of mythical animal mask handles incorporating a lion's mane and an elephant's trunk, the aperture of each handle formed by the curled trunk, the exterior superbly cast in high relief with two three-clawed dragons leaping ferociously with their limbs outstretched and their manes flowing amidst ruyi-shaped clouds of various sizes, the countersunk base cast with a six-character mark within a recessed rectangular panel, the bronze patinated to a warm coppery-brown colour; 18.5 cm., 7 1/4 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD

Provenance: A French private collection.

Note: In its decoration, the dynamic scene of dragons amidst clouds on bronze is a Xuande innovation; see a closely related example included in Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 139, and another, retaining part of its original gilding, sold in these rooms, 5th October 2011, lot 1943. Its vigorous depth of casting and style is related to carved lacquer of the period. Compare also a censer of this type, with a Xuande reign mark and possibly of the period, included in the exhibition The Second Bronze Age. Later Chinese Metalwork, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, 1991, cat. no. 44.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong | 08 Apr 2014 -www.sothebys.com