Lot 3161. A rare blue and white 'Flower scroll' zhadou, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795). 3 ¼ in. (8.2 cm.) high. Estimate $30,000 – $50,000. Price realised $93,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The vessel is delicately painted in underglaze blue with simulated 'heaping and piling' on the bulbous body with a narrow band of composite flower scroll between borders of ruyi heads and key fret above and petal lappets below, and on the flared neck with further composite flower scroll below a pendent trefoil border. 

Provenance: Dr. Ralph W. Chaney (1890-1971) Collection.

Note: Dr. Ralph W. Chaney (1890-1971) was a renowned paleontologist who collected porcelain and works of art throughout his lifetime of travels and scientific study in China and Japan. In 1925, he participated in the Third Central Asiatic Expedition to Mongolia, where the world's first discovery of dinosaur eggs was made, and he discovered the first fossilized redwood trees in Manchuria. He was a major participant in the search for the "Peking Man" at the Choukoutien Cave site and, in 1948, Dr. Chaney mounted a successful expedition to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China in search of the Metasequoia, a living species of redwood tree that was thought to be extinct. With science, Dr. Chaney lived his passion for discovery. He applied the same passion to his personal collecting.

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