Lot 727. A peach bloom-glazed beehive waterpot, Mark and period of Kangxi; 12.5 cm., 4 7/8 in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Lot sold 600,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely potted, of classic domed 'taibo zun' form, the rounded sides contracting to a narrow waisted neck below a short lipped mouthrim, subtly incised around the exterior with three medallions, each formed of the curled bodies of archaistic kui dragons, all beneath a grey-tinged crimson-red glaze characteristically suffused with shades of lighter pink and greenish-beige spots imitating the skin of a ripening peach, the recessed base and interior left white, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark in three vertical lines

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 4th November 2009, lot 115.

Note: Waterpots of this attractive glaze and form are held in important museum and private collections worldwide; see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 142 pl. 125; one illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 206; another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, included in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 234; and a fourth example from the Sir Percival David Collection and now in the British Museum, published in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London 1989, pl. 580. See also a waterpot of this type from the collection of Edward T. Chow and the British Rail Pension Fund, sold twice in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 66, and again 16th May 1989, lot 61; and another sold in these rooms, 8th April 2014, lot 3077.

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