A blue and enamelled 'Eight Immortals' double-gourd wall vase,Wanli. Photo courtesy Bonhams.

The lower body painted in a soft underglaze blue with the Eight Daoist Immortals with their attributes including Li Tieguai in the centre with his crutch and holding aloft a double-gourd issuing the wisp of immortality, the waist with blue classic scroll reserved on a red enamelled ground, the upper section with a figure of Shoulao with face surrounded by an iron-red enamelled halo and holding a ruyi sceptre seated on a flying crane amidst pine trees, the neck with a ruyi-head against a fretwork ground. 31cm (12¼in) high. Estimate £30,000 - 35,000 (€36,000 - 42,000). Unsold.

Provenance: L.Wannieck, Paris (label)

Compare with a similar wall vase in the shape of a gourd with Wanli mark in the Palace Museum collections, illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p33, pl.30

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART. London, New Bond Street. 7 Nov 2013 - www.bonhams.com