A 'robin's-egg'-glazed vase. Impressed Qianlong seal mark and of the period. Photo Bonhams

With a tall cylindrical body with two handles moulded in low relief rising to a narrow neck with gently everted rim, all covered in a marbled glaze of bright turquoise and deeper violet, the base with the impressed seal mark, box. 24cm (9½in) high (2). Sold for £301,250

Provenance: H.R.N.Norton Collection, no.85
The Inder Rieden Collection

'Robin's egg' glaze was used from the Yongzheng period until the 19th century, and is called lu Jun or 'furnace Jun' in China, suggesting that a connection was made with the Jun glazes of the Song Dynasty, and because it was fired in a furnace at a lower temperature after the firing of the porcelain. Compare a similar vase illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.II, London, 1994, no.923, and another example illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.347.

See also a similar vase, impressed Qianlong seal mark and of the period, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 2014.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 10 Nov 2011, New Bond Street www.bonhams.com