Lot 7. A fine celadon-glazed flower holder, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 7.8 cm., 3 1/8 in. Estimate 2,000,000-3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 3,140,000 HKD . Photo Sotheby's

the compressed body supported on a short foot sweeping up to a broad waisted neck with a cup-shaped mouth sealed on top save for three pierced holes, finely carved in shallow relief with a formal lotus scroll bearing four blooms with stylised shou ('long life') characters inscribed in their centres, set between 'classic' scroll around the mouth and a narrow band of upright petal lappets above the foot, the mouth with three further lotus flowers amidst scrollwork, all beneath a light celadon glaze, the base inscribed with a sixcharacter reign mark in underglaze blue

PROVENANCE: Collection of W.W. Winkworth.
Sotheby's London, 12th December 1972, lot 155.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17th November 1975, lot 248.

LITTERATURE: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 869.

NOTE: This form originated in the Yongzheng period, but celadon-glazed examples of that reign are undecorated. A pair of flower holders of that type with Yongzheng seal marks was sold in these rooms, 20th May 1986, lot 97 and again 1st November 1994, lot 111. A single one from the collection of Frederick M. Mayer was sold in our New York rooms, 6th November 1981, lot 301. A plain white Yongzheng example is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Qing porcelains from the Imperial kilns preserved in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, pl. 92.

Another Qianlong vessel of this form, glaze colour and design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Museum's exhibition Qingdai danse you ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of monochrome glazed porcelain of the Qing dynasty], Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 93; another was sold in our London rooms, 20th June 2001, lot 31.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection, Part III - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. Hong Kong | 04 Apr 2012, 10:15 AM