Lot 32. A Fine Blue and White Mallet Vase, Mark and Period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 24 cm, 9 1/2 in. Estimate 2,000,000-3,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 2,420,000 HKD (310,922 USD). Photo Sotheby's. 

the bell-shaped body rising to a tall tubular neck with a slightly lipped rim supported on a raised footring, painted on both sides with a highly stylised phoenix design, its head on the neck of the vase dissolving into abstract blue scrolls draping over the shoulders against a plain white ground, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark written in three lines within a double ring.

Provenance: Christie’s New York, 2nd December 1989, lot 358.

Literature: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-20 10, vol. 2, no. 754.

Note: A vase of this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdaiyuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kiins in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 1, pI. 47, together with a Yongzheng version, part 2, pI. 40; another Kangxi vase in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is published in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section], Qingdai [Qing dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pI. 2. The design was also executed in underglaze copper-red; for an example in the Shanghai Museum see Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 14, pI. 24; and for one in Taipei, Gugong Qing ci tulu. Kangxi yao, Yongzheng yao/lllustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Republic of China. K’ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pI. 21.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection, Part II - An Important Selection of Chinese Porcelains. Hong Kong 5 october 2011