Lot 3225. A white jade tripod censer and cover, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 20 cm., 7 3/4 in. Estimate 3,000,000 — 4,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 3,620,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the translucent stone of a white tone with natural veining, well carved with a compressed globular body supported on three clawed-animal feet emanating from mythical animal masks, rising to a waisted neck below a lipped mouth, the exterior adorned with confronting stylised archaistic dragons in low relief, flanked by a pair of mythical animal-head handles in openwork, the domed cover similarly decorated, surmounted by a reticulated knop with a coiled dragon grasping a 'flaming pearl' in its claws, fitted wood stand.

Provenance: Christie's New York, 30th November 1983, lot 256.

Note: This censer is impressive for the elegant combination of elements. It fuses both carving techniques, seen in the low relief carving and openwork carving reserved for the handles and knop, as well as decorative motifs, by juxtaposing archaic-bronze inspired taotie bands with naturalistic dragons, to suit the aesthetic taste contemporary to its time.

Compare a similar censer illustrated in Pierre-F. Scheeberger, The Baur Collection, Geneva. Chinese Jades and Other Hardstones, Geneva, 1976, pl. B. 65; another, formerly in the C.T. Loo collection, sold in our London rooms, 29th October 1983, lot 171; and a third example sold at Christie's New York, 23rd April 1987, lot 191. A censer of related form but carved with phoenixes on the body and cover, in the De An Tang collection, was included in the exhibition A Romance with Jade from, the De And Tang Collection, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2004, cat. no. 107.

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