Lot 3659. A rare clair-de-lune glazed vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795), 13.8 cm, 5 3/8 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.
elegantly potted with a compressed globular body supported on three tapering foot, rising to a slender cylindrical neck and sweeping up to a garlic-form mouth, unctuously applied overall with a clair-de-lune glaze in a pale sky-blue tone, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue, wood stand.
Provenance: Collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-1980)
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 11th April 2008, lot 2991.
Note: Notable for its elegant silhouette and attractive luminous glaze, known as tianlan (‘sky blue’), this vase draws on celebrated traditions and reinterprets them to result in an innovative and engaging piece. In form it is reminiscent of bronze hu of the Han period; see a bronze vase with a similar squat globular body, tall slender neck and garlic mouth in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum. Bronze Articles for Daily Use, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 50.
The level of technical perfection attained by the craftsmen working under the Qianlong Emperor is evident in the meticulous form and symmetry of the vase together with the thin translucent glaze. A slightly larger vase of this form and glaze, from the collection of P.J. Donnelly, was sold at Christie’s London, 15th June 1998, lot 143. See also a slightly smaller vase of this form, covered in a light celadon glaze, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II, London, 1994, pl. 853.