Lot 14. A bronze long-handled censer, Tang dynasty. Estimate 3,000 — 4,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

the cup of the censer with flaring concave walls and a lipped rim, supported on a short stem and foliate pedestal foot, the interior set with a high conical stud to the center and a teardrop stud to the wall, attached to a long channeled handle by a pierced ruyi-form fitting, the handle terminating with a cast lion seated upon a lotus base, together with a separate warming tray of conforming flared shape set with a small seated lion grasping a loose ring in its mouth, Japanese wood box (4) - Length 15 5/8  in., 39.7 cm 

Exhibited: Kaikan Tokubetsu Shuppin Seihin Senshu [Special Opening Exhibition - Anthology of Selected Masterpieces], Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, 2005, cat. no. 37.

Notes: Compare a related gilt-bronze censer in the British Museum, purchased from George Eumorfopoulos in 1936, and included in the exhibition Buddhism. Art and Faith, London, 1985, cat. no. 293, together with a Tang painting from the Dunhuang Caves, depicting the 'Guide of Souls' Bodhisattva holding an censer of this form, ibid., cat. no. 316.

Similar censers were sold in these rooms, 22nd September 2004, lot 18 and 22nd September 2005, lot 30, the latter together with a matching reliquary case.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor: Early Chinese Art, New York, 13 Sep 2016, 10:00 AM