Lot 707. A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' bowl and cover, Southern Song dynasty (AD 1127-1279); 4 ½ in. (11.2 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The deep sides are carved on the exterior with overlapping petals and the bowl is covered inside and out below the unglazed rim with an unctuous bluish-green glaze. The cover is similarly carved and glazed, cloth box.

Note: Compare the very similar bowl and cover found in 1991 in Jinyu village of Nanqiong, Suining city, Sichuan province, illustrated in Longquan Celadon: The Sichuan Museum Collection, Macau, 1998, pp. 216-17, no. 88. Also illustrated, pp. 112-15, are five cups of the same shape and design, with matching covers, nos. 99, 86, 84, 85, 87. Another very similar bowl, but without a cover, in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was sold at Christie's New York, Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum, 15 September 2016, lot 804.

A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279);  4 ¾ in. (12.1 cm.) diam. Sold for USD 118,750 at Christie's New York, Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum, 15 September 2016, lot 804. © Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Cf. my post: A Longquan celadon 'Lotus' bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279

Lot 708. A Jian ‘hare's fur’ tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (AD 1127-1279). The bowl 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) diam., the cup stand 6 ½ in. (16.6 cm). Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The sides of the deep conical bowl round up slightly towards the silver-mounted rim, and are covered with a lustrous black glaze streaked with fine bluish-silver 'hare's fur' markings on the interior and exterior where the glaze ends in a thick line above the foot to expose the brown ware, cloth pouch, two Japanese wood boxes. Together with a red lacquer cup stand, 16th century, carved with foliate scroll.

Note: Jian tea bowls were held in high esteem by the Song scholar-official class and even the emperors. Cai Xiang (1012-1067), the famous calligrapher and high official in the Northern Song court designated the ‘hare’s fur’ tea bowls from Jian’an the most appropriate utensil in serving tea in his two-chapter treatise on tea entitled Cha lu (A Record of Tea). He believed the white tea looked best in black-glazed bowls and the slightly thicker wall of Jian wares help to retain the heat of tea. By the early twelfth century, the connoisseurship of Jian tea bowls was further developed by the Emperor Huizong (1082-1135). In his twenty-chapter treatise on tea, Daguan chalun (A Discourse on Tea in the Daguan Era) of 1107, the Huizong Emperor commented that “the desirable colour of a tea bowl is bluish black and the best examples display clearly streaked hairs.” The current bowl is representative of the best tea bowls of Song dynasty, judging by the Huizong Emperor’s criteria. 

A similar Jian ‘hare’s fur’ bowl from the Linyushanren Collection, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 2820.

From the Linyushanren Collection. A superb Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) diam. Sold for HK$2,440,000 ($316,312) at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 2820. © Christie's Images Ltd 2015

Cf. my post: A superb Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)

Lot 709. A Longquan celadon tripod censer, Southern Song dynasty (AD 1127-1279); 5 ½ in. (14 cm.) high. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The compressed body has three narrow flanges formed by slip beginning at a slight molded ridge on the shoulder and trailing down each of the three slightly splayed, conical legs, all below the cylindrical neck that rises to a flat, everted rim. The censer is covered overall with a soft sea-green glaze of even tone that thins on the flanges and ends at the bottom of the legs to expose the pale grey ware, reticulated silver cover, gold-lacquered cover, Japanese lacquered box and wood box.

Provenance: Japanese private collection, Meiji-Taisho period (1868-1912).

Note: The shape of this censer, based on that of the ancient bronze li, was produced from the Southern Song into the Yuan period for the domestic as well as the export market. The numerous tripod censers retrieved from the Sinan shipwreck provide evidence that this shape was much sought after in Japan, the original destination of the ship's cargo, and where they have since been widely collected.

The thick, translucent glaze is typical of this type of Southern Song Longquan ware, as is the lack of any decoration other than the flanges. A number of Longquan celadon censers of the same shape are published, including several in renowned museum collections. Examples in the Tokyo National Museum and Percival David Foundation, London, are published in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 1, no. 97, and vol. 6, no. 37, respectively. Others include the example by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection: Chinese Ceramics, vol. I, Geneva, 1972, no. A99; and the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain, Taipei, 1974, no. 12. A larger example (19.7 cm. diam.), found in 1991 in Jinyu village of Nanqiong, Suining city, Sichuan province, is illustrated in Longquan Celadon: The Sichuan Museum Collection, Macau, 1998, pp. 210-11, no. 83. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 22 - 23 March 2018, New York

Lot 712. An incised Korean celadon footed dish, Goryeo dynasty, 12th-13th century; 6 5/8 in. (17 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 3,000 - USD 5,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The dish, with rounded body, is incised on the interior with an abstract floral motif and is covered in a crackled glaze of greyish-celadon tone, Japanese wood box.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 22 - 23 March 2018, New York

Lot 713. A molded shufu shallow dish, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The dish has shallow, rounded sides raised on a small, slightly flared foot ring, and is molded in low relief in the center of the interior with stylized lotus scroll bearing four blossoms below further lotus scroll incorporating the characters, shu and fu, in the cavetto. The bowl is covered inside and out with a satiny glaze of pale aqua tone, and the base, which is centered by a nipple, is unglazed.

Provenance: J & J Collection (according to label).

Note: The term shufu usually refers to a type of glaze (luanbai) which is more opaque than that of a qingbai glaze and is silky in texture, rather than glassy. The term derives from the characters shu and fu executed in low relief under the glaze found on some wares with this glaze, such as the present dish. It is believed that wares with this mark were intended for use by a Yuan-dynasty government department, the Shumiyuan, which is equated with a Privy Council. A similar dish of slightly larger size (16 cm.) is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 64, no. 1:12.

Dish with moulded design, shufu characters and luanbai glaze, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 16 cm. Bequeathed by Sir John M Addis, 1984,0202.19 © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 22 - 23 March 2018, New York

Giorgio de Chirico, Metaphysical Muse, 1918, oil on canvas, 55 x 35 cm. Collezione Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l'Arte on long-term loan Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino.

TURIN.- Giorgio de Chirico was born in Volos, Greece, in 1888, to Italian parents – his father was a civil engineer building the new railway lines in Greece. He lived in Athens, Munich, Milan, Florence, Paris, Ferrara, New York, and Rome, where he died in 1978. De Chirico is among the most important artists of the twentieth century. After studying at the Athens Polytechnic and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he was influenced by the symbolist painting of Arnold Böcklin and the philosophical thought of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, de Chirico arrived in Italy in 1909. 

In 1911, he spent a few days in Turin where the long shadows of the afternoon and the grid of streets, squares and arcaded galleries gave him the impression, as he wrote, that “the city was built for philosophical dissertations.” 

The pioneer of an art in which the intellect dominates emotion and, with visionary originality, connects the philosophy of mythological Greece to the icy classicism of Nordic thought, de Chirico is the originator of metaphysical painting, whose enigmatic images, through a style characterized by sharp shadows and flat colors, refer to the suspension of time, immobility, the fragility of the consciousness, the inexpressible and the loss that are the grammar of dreams. This original style is the complex result of the profound philosophical, literary and figurative culture of the artist. 

In Paris, de Chirico’s metaphysical canvases proved popular with the Surrealists, but when in the 1920s he focused his interests on painting technique and the Old Masters in Rome, in particular mythological subjects and landscapes, he was rejected by the avant-garde art world. Disregarding the criticism of his former admirers, the artist developed a growing interest in the theme of metamorphosis in the ancient world, for those enigmatic refractions of meaning that, before dissolving into nothing, suggest aspects of existence. 

Giorgio de Chirico, Metaphysical Selfportrait, 1919, oil on canvas, 60 x 50.5 cm. Collezione Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l'Arte on long-term loan Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino.

The exhibition Giorgio de Chirico. Major Works from the Collection of Francesco Federico Cerruti, features for the first time at the Castello di Rivoli, a group of important early works by Giorgio de Chirico from the collection of Francesco Federico Cerruti, offering public works which until now have remained hidden away in the private collection of Villa Cerruti in Rivoli. This residence was built by Cerruti, a Turin entrepreneur and industrialist, in the 1960s to house his private collection. According to de Chirico himself, Turin, the place where Nietzsche’s madness exploded, is among the Italian cities that inspired the first metaphysical paintings and their melancholic atmospheres. Featuring works ranging from 1916 to 1927, the exhibition at Castello di Rivoli presents eight important paintings by the pioneer of metaphysical art. Offering a glimpse of the metamorphic capacity of de Chirico’s genius, this exhibition investigates his intellectual heritage by showing his paintings in connection with some of the major contemporary artworks of Castello di Rivoli’s permanent collection, such as installations by Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Maurizio Cattelan. 

An artist whose personal memories intertwined with classical myths and philosophy, de Chirico in his continuous research – which included the freedom to quote himself and not to stop at a single style, as well as poetry and novel writing – embraced many artistic metamorphoses to respond to the claims of modern progress, resisting its rationality and fascination for technology. 
In keeping with the spirit that characterizes the Cerruti collection and its eclectic vision, which ranges from medieval paintings with gold leaf backgrounds to contemporary art, Giorgio de Chirico. Major Works from the Collection of Francesco Federico Cerruti proposes a brand-new journey through time, establishing a link between the works of de Chirico and some of the key pieces of contemporary art in the museum’s permanent collection. 

Set within the baroque castle, where the past continuously renews its encounter with the present, the exhibition comprises a series of dialogues between paintings by de Chirico and the works of contemporary artists. 

Giorgio de Chirico, The Departure of the Argonauts, 1922, mixed media on canvas, 54 x 73 cm. Collezione Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l'Arte on long-term loan Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino.

Presented in the historic state rooms on the first floor of the Savoy palace, starting from Room 15, the itinerary includes Composizione Metafisica (Muse Metafisiche) (Metaphysical Composition - Metaphysical Muses), 1918, on view in relation to Casa di Lucrezio (House of Lucretius) (1981), by Giulio Paolini, under the theme of the double and of the poetic enigma, which continues in Room 16 with Il trovatore (The Troubadour), 1922, to arrive at the wonder of the pure metaphysical suspension of Il saluto degli argonauti partenti (Greetings of the Departing Argonauts), 1920, in Room 17. In Room 5 the self-portrait is instead the theme that connects Autoritratto metafisico (Metaphysical Self-Portrait), 1919, to the imposing L’architettura dello specchio (Architecture of the Mirror), 1990, by Michelangelo Pistoletto, while in Room 6, Interno metafisico (con faro) (Metaphysical Interior – with Lighthouse), 1918, opens up to the imaginative architectures painted by Franz Ackermann. In Room 7, the journey continues with the Composizione metafisica (Metaphysical Composition), 1916, and the works of Fabio Mauri, and then in Room 13, Interno metafisico (con dolci ferraresi) (Metaphysical Interior – with sweets from Ferrara), 1917, creates an unexpected relationship with the works of Alighiero Boetti in the interest by both artists in details taken from everyday life. To complete the exhibition path, in Room 14, the exhibition shows the work of de Chirico Due cavalli (Two Horses), 1927, in relation to Novecento (1997) by Maurizio Cattelan, fostering a dialog in which the Dionysian impetus of the master of metaphysics meets the cynical vision on the past century of the contemporary Italian artist. 

Giulio Paolini, The House of Lucretius, 1981, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino.

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘Novecento (1900)’, 1997, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Torino. 

"Un jour, une cigogne blessée tombe dans la cour de Nasr Eddin, qui prend soin d’elle mais attend qu’elle soit rétablie pour lui limer son long bec et lui rogner l’extrémité des ailes.

- Maintenant que tu es devenue presque normale, lui dit-il en la laissant aller, tu peux fréquenter les autres."

Lot 714. A large Longquan celadon vase, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 12th-14th century; 20 ¾ in. (52.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 18,000 - USD 25,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018 

The vase is sprig-molded and applied with meandering stems bearing peony blossoms between a band of carved upright leaves on the lower body and three foliate sprays on the neck, and is covered overall with a thick glaze of sea-green tone.

Note: A similar Longquan celadon molded vase, also with reduced, metal-bound rim, but of smaller size (27.6 cm.), was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 2221. See, also, two Longquan celadon vases with similar molded decoration and with reduced, metal-bound rims, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Cereamics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol.I, Yuan and Ming Dynasty Celadon Wares, London, 1986, pp. 288-89, nos. 205 (TKS 15/213 and TKS 15/9755).

A Longquan celadon moulded vase, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty (1127-1368); 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm.) high. Sold for 750,000 HKD at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 2221. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Lot 2122. A very rare famille-rose 'Floral' vase, Yongzheng four-character mark and of the period (1723-1735); 15 in. (38 in.) high. Estimate HKD 4,000,000 - HKD 6,000,000. Price realised HKD 6,030,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The vase is delicately potted with steep sides rising to rounded shoulders surmounted by a waisted neck and a galleried rim. The body is elegantly painted with a butterfly finely picked out in yellow, fuchsia and sky-blue in flight above flower sprays including peonies, chrsyanthemum, roses and lily issuing from pierced rockwork, while another butterfly soars nearby. 

Property of the Yiqingge Collection.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 3 May 1994, lot 228 

Note: The present vase appears to be unique as no other vase of this exceptionally rare form appears to be published. The form reflects the avid interest in antiquity in the 18th century when Qing emperors were all ardent antiquarians who collected and studied material from earlier dynasties. Specifically, the present form may be inspired by Han bronze hu, such as the example published in the Xiqing Gujian, 'Inspection of Antiquities' (fig. 1), which shares a striking similarity with the present vase in its treatment of the waisted elongated neck with two bowstring bands.

fig. 1. Xiqing Gujian, 'Inspection of Antiquities'

 Another very interesting feature of this vase is its remarkably painterly depiction of the scene which had been rendered with great skill and making excellent use of the newly developed pink enamel. The thick application of enamels, particularly evident on the petals of the peonies and the leaves, suggests that the present vase is more likely to have been early in the Yongzheng period. Compare to two famille rose 'floral' dishes in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Porcelain with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 70-71, nos. 60-61. The present vase and the Palace Museum examples share the same painterly quality that is characteristic of the early Yongzheng period.

The base of the present vase bears a four-character mark written in two lines, which is very rarely seen on Yongzheng-marked pieces. Compare to an iron-red decorated pear-shaped vase with the same type of mark sold at Christie's New York, 30 March 2005, lot 414. 

Lot 2121. A fine Imperial ruby-red ground famille rose bowl, Yongzheng four-character yuzhi mark within double squares and of the period (1723-1735); 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,300,000 - HKD 1,800,000. Price realised HKD 4,830,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The bowl is finely enamelled around the rounded body with three large peony heads in blue, yellow and pink radiating upward from the base, surrounded by smaller flower heads in brilliant enamels, all reserved on a rich ruby-red ground of crushed raspberry-red tone. The interior and base are covered with a clear glaze, box. 

Property of the Yiqingge Collection.

Note: A similarly-decorated bowl of the same size is illustrated in Chinese Art and Design, The T.T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art, London, 1991, pl. 92; another bowl of the same size in the Victoria and Albert Museum is illustrated by R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty, London, 1986, pl. 93; two other examples in the National Palace Museum, decorated with the four seasonal flowers, are illustrated in Fine Enamelled Porcelain of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Yung Cheng Period, CAFA, Book II, 1967, pls. 34 and 35. A further example from the T.Y. Chao Collection was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1917. 

Lot 2114. A fine famille verte 'dragon' incised bowl, Kangxi six-character mark within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722); 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm) diam. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 4,230,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

Lot 2272. A fine pair of doucai 'Daoist emblems' bowls, Yongzheng six-character marks within double circles and of the period (1723-1735); 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.) diam. (2). Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 4,230,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

Lot 2254. An extremely rare incised turquoise-glazed double-gourd vase, Jiajing six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1522-1566); 8 1/2 in. (21.9 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 3,870,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The elegant vase is well potted and decorated on the compressed globular lower section with a broad frieze of scrolling lotus supporting the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems'. The lotus decoration is repeated on the pear-shaped upper gourd with broad friezes below a band of three floral sprays encircling the broad mouth. The upper and lower sections are divided on the narrow waist by further symbols and cloud scrolls. The vase is covered in a brilliant turquoise-blue glaze pooling to a deeper turquoise in the carved recesses to accentuate the design. The reign mark is inscribed on the base in underglaze blue and covered in a transparent glaze, Japanese wood box.

Property of the Yiqingge Collection. 

Note: The double-gourd form appears to have been particularly favoured for vases produced during the Jiajing period. The auspicious Daoist connotations invoked by the double gourd shape clearly found particular favour with an emperor preoccupied with Daoist beliefs. In this case the Daoist symbolism associated with the double-gourd form is complemented by the Buddhist imagery of the lotus scroll and the Buddhist Emblems. 

Only one other comparable Jiajing-marked turquoise-glazed vase has been published. It is of the same size and with almost identical incised decoration with the exception of slight differences in the symbols around the waisted neck and the order in which the Emblems appear around the lower body. The vase, formerly in the collections of Colonel Octave du Sartel, Alfred Clark, H.M. Knight and Jaap Ensing, and now in the Meiyintang Collection is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume 4, London, 2010, no. 708.

Jiajing-marked double-gourd vases decorated with lotus scroll in different enamel palettes are preserved in a number of important museum and private collections. A larger vase (45.1 cm. high) of similar shape, decorated with incised yellow enamelled lotus scroll against an iron-red ground, with a very similar underglaze blue reign mark to the one on the present vase, is in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Miscellaneaous Enamelled Porcelains - Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2009, no. 49. A vase of approximately the same size as the present example decorated with scrolling lotus in iron-red on a green ground in the British Museum is illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London 2001, no.9:94. A pair of Jiajing-marked double gourd vases decorated in underglaze blue and iron-red against a yellow ground, also in the British Museum Collection, is illustrated ibid., nos. 9:88 an 9:89. 

Gourd-shaped porcelain bottle with red enamel reserved on an overglaze green ground, Ming dynasty, Jiajing six-character mark in a double ring in underglaze blue and of the period (1522-1566), 19.2 cm. Bloxam donations, 1928,0718.3. © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

Two double-gourd-shaped porcelain bottles with underglaze blue, overglaze red and yellow decoration, Ming dynasty, Jiajing six-character mark in a double ring in underglaze blue and of the period (1522-1566), 22 cm. Bequeathed by Henry J Oppenheim, 1947,0712.92.a-b © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum. 

Lot 2101. A peachbloom-glazed seal paste box and cover, yinse he, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722); 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 500,000. Price realised HKD 3,630,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The box and cover are of cushion form, covered with a mottled glaze of soft crushed raspberry tone suffused with pale greenish speckles. The recessed base is inscribed in underglaze-blue with the reign mark and covered in a transparent glaze.

Property of the Yiqingge Collection. 

Note: Similar peachbloom seal-paste boxes are in various museum collections, including the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 141, col. pl. 124; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 138; and the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-Hsi, Yung-Cheng and Ch'ien-Lung Porcelain Wares from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, 1986, no.11. 

Lot 2113. A fine Famille Rose and doucai conical bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1723-1735); 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 4,000,000. Price realised HKD 3,390,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Lot 2128. An important and very rare large doucai bowl, Wanli six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1573-1619); 9 in. (22.8 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000. Price realised HKD 3,390,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Lot 2295. A rare gilt-ground famille rose millefleurs bowl, Qing dynasty, 18th-early 19th century, blue-enamelled caixiutang zhi hall mark; 4 in. (10 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 900,000 - HKD 1,200,000. Price realised HKD 3,390,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The bowl is potted with rounded sides, exquisitely decorated to the exterior in bright enamels to render a dense pattern of floral sprays including peonies, lotus, hydrangea, chrysanthemum, pinks and daisies in rich tones of pink, yellow, blue and green, all against a gilt ground. The base bears a four-character hall mark, Caixiutang Zhi. 

Note: The blue-enamelled hall mark, Caixiu Tang is a dedication to the 'Hall of the Colourful and Beautiful'. The present millefleurs bowl with the additional gilt decoration is unique with the only comparable example in the Beijing Palace Museum, a large bowl bearing the Qingyi Tang hall mark, and is illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 208, no. 184, dating to the Jiaqing period. A similar bowl from the Robert Chang Collection of this millefleurs pattern bearing the Caixiu Tang mark but without the gilt background, dating to the Qianlong period, was included in An Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 1993, and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, lot 811. 

Christie's. IMPERIAL SALE: IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART. 29 May 2013. Convention Hall.

Lot 2293. A fine lime-green ground famille-rose bottle vase, Jiaqing iron red six-character seal mark and of the period (1796-1820); 11 3/4 in. (29.7 cm.) high. Estimate 1,500,000 - HKD 2,000,000 USD. Lot sold 3,150,000 USD. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The vase is finely potted with a globular body rising from a slightly splayed foot to a long cylindrical neck. The body is decorated with four large lotus blossoms each flanked by a pair of kui dragons and divided by lotus sprays, between a band of ruyi-heads and upright lappets, all against a bright lime-green ground. The pattern is similarly repeated on the neck, above a pink-ground band decorated with florettes and scrolls, flanked by C-scroll handles enamelled in iron-red with gilt decorations. The interior and base are applied with a turquoise enamel.

Property of the Yiqingge Collection. 

Note: Compare to a Jiaqing-marked jar similarly decorated with lotus blooms flanked by kui dragons on a lime-green ground, between ruyi-heads and upright lappets, in the Qing Court Collection and illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 173. Similar designs are also seen on Qianlong period porcelains, such as a Qianlong-marked vase detailed with lotus borne on tendrils between phoenix on a lime-green ground, included in the Nanjing Museum and Chinese University of Hong Kong joint exhibition Qing imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, Catalogue, no. 96. 

Christie's. IMPERIAL SALE: IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART. 29 May 2013. Convention Hall. 

Lot 2104. A fine and very rare pair of incised white-glazed bottle vases, Yongzheng six-character marks within double circles and of the period (1723-1735); 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) high (2). Estimate 400,000 - HKD 600,000 USD. Lot sold 2,670,000USD. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Each vase is exquisitely potted with the angular shoulder rising to a slim cylindrical neck, incised to the body with a dragon in profile amidst meandering scrolls, and the neck with flame scrolls. They are covered with a soft white glaze.

Property of the Yiqingge Collection. 

Note: Compare to an identical vase of almost the same size in the Baur Collection, illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, no. 302. An identical pair of vases from the Millicent Rogers Collection was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2128. Another very similar pair, conceivably the present pair, was illustrated in The J. Insley Blair Collection of Chinese Porcelain, New York, 1925, pl. 1. A copy of this catalogue was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2125.  

From the Millicent Rogers Collection. A fine pairof very raresmall incised white-glazed bottle vases, Yongzheng six-character marks within double circles and of the period (1723-1735); 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm.) high. Sold for 3,860,000 HKD at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2128. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Each vase is exquisitely potted with the slim cylindrical neck tapering to the angled shoulder, incised to the body with a dragon in profile amidst meandering scrolls, and the neck with flame scrolls. They are covered overall with a soft white glaze, wood stands (2). Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000

Provenance: Millicent Rogers (1902-1953) and thence by descent to the present owner.

Note: A pair of vases, very possibly the same vases in the present lot, was illustrated in The J. Insley Blair Collection of Chinese Porcelain, New York, 1925, pl. 1.

Compare an identical vase of almost the same size in the Baur Collection, illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, no. 302. 

Christie's. IMPERIAL SALE: IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART. 29 May 2013. Convention Hall. 

Lot 2257. A very rare famille verte'Lotus' month cup, Kangxi six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1662-1722); 2 1/2 in. (6.5 cm.) diam. Estimate 400,000 - HKD 600,000 USD. Lot sold 2,670,000USD. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The cup is delicately potted with flaring sides, with the exterior painted and enamelled representing the sixth month with two mandarin ducks swimming in a lotus pond with a kingfisher in flight overhead. The reverse has an inscription which may be translated as 'Jade-like, the lotus root is untainted by muddy waters; the gathering dew drops are like pearls on its heart-shaped leaves', followed by a seal mark reading Shang, 'Appreciation', Japanese wood box. 

Property of the Yiqingge Collection.  

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired in the early 20th century 

Note: These finely potted cups are so-called 'month cups', made at the imperial kilns during the Kangxi reign. One was made for each month of the lunar calendar. As in the case of the current example, these cups are so thinly potted that the blue of the inscription on the exterior can be seen through the porcelain from the interior of the vessel. There has been much scholarly debate regarding which cup should be assigned to which month in the lunar calendar. For a discourse on flowers in Chinese art, see W. Perceval Yetts, 'Notes on Flower Symbolism in China', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, January, 1941. 

The design format of these cups with a pictorial composition on one side and a poetic inscription ending in a seal mark on the other is inspired by the long tradition in classical painting and was an innovation of the Kangxi period.  

Compare to a complete set of cups for all twelve months in the Qing Court Collection, see Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 140. The Percival David Foundation in London has another full set, see Rosemary Scott, For the Imperial Court - Qing Porcelain from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, New York, 1997, pp. 82-83, no. 23.  

Christie's. IMPERIAL SALE: IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART. 29 May 2013. Convention Hall.