A Hong Kong auction house said yesterday it will withdraw from sale what it had earlier claimed was a looted Chinese bronze dog from an 18th-century water clock, five days after Chinese antique experts dismissed it as a fake.

The Hong Kong Auctions International Co Ltd decided to pull the item from a scheduled October 26 auction "in response to the immense public attention," Kwong Lum, the auction house's chief consultant, said at a news conference.

"Our decision was not made under any pressure," Lum said, adding that the withdrawal was a move to avoid "unnecessary controversy."

Lum had earlier said the 43-centimeter head was part of a water clock in the 18th-century Qing Dynasty featuring the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Last Thursday, consultants from China's Poly Art Museum said the dog head wasn't part of the clock because its bronze quality and craftsmanship doesn't match the four other animal heads it has recovered.

Lum maintained the piece was authentic a day after the Chinese experts raised doubts, but declined to state his position yesterday.

The water clock sculptures were looted by British and French troops during the second Opium War in 1860 from Yuan Ming Yuan, or the Old Summer Palace.

The auctions in Hong Kong in 2000 of three of the animal heads -- an ox, a tiger and a monkey -- drew fire from Chinese mainland officials who threatened to stop Sotheby's and Christie's from selling them.

The bronze sculptures were eventually bought by China Poly Group, a state-run conglomerate which owns the Poly Art Museum, for US$4.03 million.

The museum also recently recovered the pig head sculpture.

An official with a state-supervised relic foundation which helped recover the pig head applauded the auction house's decision.

"We believe there is only one series of water clock sculptures in Yuan Ming Yuan," said Wang Weiming by phone from Beijing. "There's no doubt about it."

(eastday.com September 24, 2003)