Lot 237. A rare celadon-glazed six-necked vase (Liukongping), Qianlong seal mark and period. Height 8 3/4 in., 22.5 cm. Estimate 70,000-90,000 USD. Lot sold 572,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

superbly potted with five outer baluster-form bodies enclosing the inner central and tallest vase, rising to narrow cylindrical necks, each with a single raised filet and terminating in an everted mouth and tapering to form a joined base, covered overall in a vitreous pale seagreen celadon glaze, seal mark in underglaze blue, wood stand (2). 

PROVENANCE: Collection of Sir Edmund Rathbone Bacon (1846-1915), New York.
Collection of Robert May Esq., Amsterdam.
John Sparks Ltd., London, 29th January 1964.

EXHIBITED: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Catalogue Number 411 (according to invoice).

NOTE: This type of rare vase appears to have been made for imperial use during both the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. Of the few known Qianlong examples, two have been previously sold at Sotheby's, one with incised decoration in these rooms, 18th September 1996, lot 225 and another in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th-6th November 1996, lot 862. A similar example with a plain celadon glaze of slightly smaller dimension is illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 149, and another example in the Art Institute of Chicago was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Los Angeles County Museum, 1952, Catalogue, no.366. A vase with a sky-blue glaze is illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty, The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 326. A similar vase with a teadust glaze preserved in the National Palace Taiwan is illustrated in Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, p. 123, no. 96.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 20 March 2012