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A fine pair of blue and white 'Lingzhi' octagonal jars, Marks and period of Yongzheng. Photo: Sotheby's.

of ovoid form and octagonal section, rising from a shallow recessed base to a short waisted neck and lipped rim, each facetted side painted in shaded tones of cobalt with upright lingzhi stems growing beside bamboo sprays and extending onto the shoulder, all sprouting from a double-line border encircling the foot, the neck picked out with detached florets between line borders, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six character reign mark; 10.8 cm., 4 1/4  in. Estimation 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 HKD. Unsold

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th April 1997, lot 618
 
A closely related jarlet, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelain from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum], vol. 1, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 26; another is published in Sun Qi,Minjian liusan wenwu jianding [Connoisseurship of scattered cultural relics], Beijing, 1993, p. 96 (centre left); and three were sold in these rooms, a pair, 2nd May 2000, lot 671, and a single jarlet, 23rd October 2005, lot 346.

For the Ming inspiration of this design see an early fifteenth century lobed jarlet with floral decoration, from the Enid and Brodie Lodge collection, illustrated in William Bowyer Honey, The Ceramic Art of China and Other Countries of the Far East, London, 1944, pl. 87.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong | 08 Oct 2013 -www.sothebys.com