Lot 3121. A rare blue-glazed bottle vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) high. Estimate $100,000 – $150,000. Price realised $112,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The vase has a compressed globular body and a tall neck that flares at the rim, and is covered on the exterior with a glaze of rich, dark blue color in contrast to the white interior. 

Provenance: Vallin Galleries, Connecticut, late 1990s.

Note: Vases of this shape, with a subtly compressed body and an elegantly flaring, slender neck, were produced in the Qianlong reign in a variety of monochrome glazes. For a vase of similar shape covered in a crackled, pale lavender-blue glaze, from the collection of J.P. Morgan, see S. Bushell and W. Laffan, Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, New York, 1907, no. M24. 

Another Qianlong-mark vase of this same, elegant profile, covered in a flambé glaze, is illustrated by R. Krahl inChinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. IV (II), London, 2010, p. 367, no. 1812.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza