A GOLD-SPLASHED BRONZE HALBERD-HANDLED TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER QING DYNASTY, 17TH – 18TH CENTURY

with a rounded lower body rising to a waisted neck flanked by a pair of handles cast in the form of stylised halberd, all supported on three tapering feet, the base with a recessed cartouche enclosing an apocryphal four-character Xuande mark, the bronze patinated to a warm copper-brown colour and liberally applied with gold splashes
23 cm, 9 1/8 in.

Provenance:
Another bronze incense burner cast with stylised halberd handles was sold in these rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3304, from the collection of Ulrich Hausmann. See also a prototype of related form, illustrated in the Xuande yiqi tupu [Illustrated catalogue of the ritual vessels of the Xuande Period], Beijing, 2006, p. 246.