Lot 3308. A fine celadon-glazed double-gourd vase , Qianlong six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 12 3/4 in. (32.3 cm.) high. Estimate HK$1,000,000 - HK$1,500,000 ($129,573 - $194,359). Price Realized HK$1,600,000 ($207,268). © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

The vase is well potted with a compressed globular lower bulb rising from the countersunk base to a slightly smaller globular upper bulb, surmounted by a long narrow mouth. The vase is covered overall with a soft celadon glaze, stand, box.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29 November 1976, lot 541

Note: Double-gourd vases are also known as dajiping (vase of good fortune), as the double gourd, or bottle gourd, symbolises fertility and good fortune. A similar vase of the same size was included in the Exhibition of Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong Reigns, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995, no. 69; and one is illustrated inChinese Porcelain: The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 106. Another is illustrated in Qing Imperial Monochromes: The Zande Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 118, no. 42. A similar vase with its original small cover from the Jingguantang Collection was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 571, and again 28 October 2002, lot 723. See, also, the vase sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 2012; and another from the Gordon Collection sold at Christie's New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1135.

The shape and colour of the glaze of the present vase and the others like it appear to be a Qing interpretation of earlier Longquan celadon double-gourd vases of Song dynasty date, such as the example illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 166, no. 484.

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