Lot 3303. A fine and very rare 'Crab shell'-glazed vase, meiping, Yongzheng Six-Character Sealmark and of  the Period (1723-1735); 11 1/2 in. (29 cm.) high0. Estimate HK$1,500,000 - HK$2,500,000 ($194,359 - $323,932). Price Realized HK$6,640,000 ($860,162). © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The elegantly formed vase is well potted with high shoulders that taper towards a slightly spreading base below a short waisted neck. It is covered overall in an iridescent dark green glaze mottled with brown speckles, stopping around the brown dressed foot rim, wood stand. 

Provenance: Acquired by the present family in the 1970s .

Note: The glaze on the current meiping is extremely rare, and no other identical example appears to have been published. However, there is a Yongzheng-marked melon-shaped jar in the Palace Museum, Beijing, which has the same glaze, illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1991, no. 253, p. 276. 

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 28 May 2014