Lot 725. A fine teadust bottle vase,Incised seal mark and period of Qianlong; 13.5 cm., 5 1/3 in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HK. Lot sold 1,480,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

of compressed globular form resting on a slightly splayed foot, sweeping up to a slender neck and everted rim, covered overall with an olive-coloured glaze speckled with a fine gold mist, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark incised and gilt within a brown-glazed panel, wood stand. 

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 22nd May 1985, lot 209.

Tea-dust vases of this small size are rare. The present example is also noteworthy for the remaining traces of original gilding on the mark. Compare larger examples of this form, such as one in the Baur collection, illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 297; another sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1982, lot 226; and a third example from the Rolf Heiniger collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 20th September 2002, lot 370.

Tea-dust glaze was an 18th century innovation made with the precipitation of yellow crystal that stands out against a dark green background producing what is known in Japanese as chayemo or ‘tea-leaf dust’ glaze effect. Successfully fired vessels in this glaze, such as this vase, have many small stipples that make the glaze appear especially rich and velvety to the touch.

Sotheby's. Playthings From The Collection of Edward T. Chow - Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Collections -Chinese Art Through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor - Asian Lacquer, Hong Kong, 27 may 2014