Lot 252. A massive Guan-type faceted vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 26 1/4 in., 66.6 cm. Estimate 30,000 - 40,000 USD. Lot sold 386,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

of hexagonal baluster form, raised on a low foot of conforming shape, all covered in a viscous gray glaze suffused with an even network of dark and light colored crackles, the foot dressed in dark brown, seal mark in underglaze blue. 

Note: Guan, the official ware of the Southern Song court, has historically been and continues to be one of the most admired and desirable of all types of Chinese ceramics. The Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors were particularly keen admirers of guan wares and had original pieces sent to the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen as models to copy. Every aspect of the Song ware was observed and emulated, from the color of the glaze and crackling to the foot left unglazed then stained in a dark color, to capture the essence of the prototype. The present vase is a rare and impressive example of such reproduction; a familiar Song globular vase of octagonal section with a long cylindricalneck and everted rim has been developed into an elegant and fluid hexagonal vase; a type that emerged during the Yongzheng reign and gained popularity in the Qianlong period. In a display of technical prowess, the potter has covered the large vessel with a rich guan-type glaze and successfully captured an aesthetically appealing web of crackles that also creates a sense of movement.

It is unusual to find a vase of this form covered in a monochrome glaze as it is more commonly known decorated with fruit and flowers in underglaze blue; see a Qianlong vase in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 212; another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 764, included in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding, Hong Kong,1993, p. 274, pl. 469; and a third example in our Hong Kong rooms, 30th April 1991, lot 73, and again, 5th October 2011, lot 1920. For the Yongzheng prototype see one from the Grandidier collection and now in the Museé Guimet, Paris, published in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 164.

Compare also two vases of similar hexagonal form but with slightly broader and higher shoulders sold at Christie's Hong Kong, one smaller Qianlong mark and period example covered in a ru-type glaze, sold, 27th October 2003, lot 705, and a ge-type vase of this size with a Yongzheng reign mark and of the period, sold 29th April 1996, lot 635.