Lot 80. A famille rose 'bajixiang' tripod incense burner, Jiaqing seal mark in a horizontal line and of the period (1796-1820). Estimate £18,000 - 24,000 (€23,000 - 31,000). Unsold. photo: Bnhams.

The body enamelled with the Eight Buddhist Emblems surrounded by lotus blossoms issuing from foliate scrolls beneath a band of ruyi heads below the neck with further lotus scrolls, the pierced upright curved handles on each side with further lotus flanked by red bats, the three stoutly rounded cabriole legs each with a lotus bloom in foliate scrolls, wood cover and stand. 27cm (10 2/3in) high (3).

Notes: This incense burner is likely to have been part of a five-piece altar garniture set, known as the Five Offerings,wugong (五供), which were widely used in Buddhist rituals to entertain and seek protection from the deities. In shape and decoration, the vessels included in these sets, which also comprised a pair of candlesticks and wine containers, recall those employed to perform ancestral sacrifices during the Shang and Zhou periods. Restoring the ancient Chinese ways through the reinterpretation of archaic forms was viewed by the Qing rulers as one way to reinstate the importance of performing filial acts, the core value of Confucian thought that legitimised the emperors' right to rule.

Compare with an incense burner illustrated by G.Avitabile, From The Dragon's Treasure. Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and 20th centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, London, 1987, no.5, p.22. Compare with another similar incense burner in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pp.374-375.

A related pink-ground incense burner was sold at Christie's London, 11 November 2015, lot 682 and another at Sotheby's New York, 19th March 2013, lot 220.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23237: FINE CHINESE ART, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET