A fine and rare ru-type jardinière, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng. Photo: Sotheby's.

of rectangular form, the flared sides rising from a stepped foot to a flat everted rim, covered overall in a crackled lavender-blue glaze stopping neatly at the footring to reveal a brown body, the base with two circular apertures, inscribed with a six-character seal mark, wood stand and Japanese box;6.4 cm., 18 1/4  in. Estimation 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 HKD - Unsold.

This type of large clair-de-lune jardinières of flared rectangular form are rare and only a few examples appear to be published. Compare a jardinière of related size but with different outline and raised on bracket feet, in the Zandelou collection, published in 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. 13. Another smaller Yongzheng mark and period clair-de-lune jardinière of similar simple rectangular flared form, but with additional recessed panels on the sides and the seal mark written in a line, was sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 2011, lot 1575. Another covered with a celadon glaze, from the Wang Xing Lou collection, was included in the exhibition Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 2004, cat. no. 67, which notes that these vessels are known in Chinese as penjing (pot landscapes) and were popular in the Qing dynasty for miniature gardens or bonsai trees (p. 182).