Lot 110. A superb celadon-glazed ovoid jar and cover, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 13.9 cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 4,000,000 - 6,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,820,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's 2012.

well potted with the gently curved sides rising to broad shoulders sweeping up to a short narrow neck, all supported on a broad low foot complementing with the overall profile, fitted with a small cylindrical cover with a flat top and rounded sides, covered overall in a classic flawless pale-celadon glaze, the recessed base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle in underglaze blue

Provenance: Acquired in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s.

Exhibited: Zandelou Qingdai guanyao danseyou ciqi/Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zandelou Collection, Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum and Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 15.

Literature: Helen D. Ling and E.T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 124.

Note: The finely glazed jar with its subtle curves and its simple cylindrical cover represents an archetypal Yongzheng design. In the Yongzheng period a new type of cover was developed for jars, probably used to hide a tight-fitting stopper or seal of a different material inside, its smooth rounded outlines harmonizing superbly with the overall profile of the vessel.

A rare jar of this shape, but lacking its cover, from the T.Y. Chao collection, included in the exhibition Ch’ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Art Gallery, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1973-4, cat. no. 13, was sold in these rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 284 and again in our New York rooms, 24th March 1998, lot 666. 

Compare also more common covered jars of Yongzheng mark and period, with similar celadon glaze, but of slightly different baluster shape, with more strongly tapering sides and lacking the constriction at the foot, as for example, sold in these rooms, 28th November 1978, lot 187; or sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 20th March 1990, lot 610.