Lot 111. An extremely rare yellow glass vase, Wheel-cut mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735);  22.3 cm., 8 3/4  in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 HKD (171,024 - 228,032 EUR). Lot sold 2,960,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's 2015

the sumptuous body of swollen ovoid form, elegantly rising at the gently curved shoulders to a tall cylindrical neck, gently tapering to a sharply cut straight mouth, the concave base wheel-cut with a four-character reign mark within a square border, the glass of an opaque egg-yolk yellow colour.

Note: Yongzheng reign-marked glass vases of this elegant bottle shape are extremely rare, especially examples in yellow, restricted for the use of the Imperial family. The only other recorded example appears to be the bottle vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Zhang Rong, Luster of Autumn Water. Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005, p.122, no.5. The shape of the Palace Museum example differs slightly from the current vase, the globular body of a more pronounced ovoid shape and supported on a higher splayed foot. The wheel-cut marks are almost identical.

No other Yongzheng yellow glass vase of this form appears to have been offered at auction. However, two green glass vase of this form, with similar wheel-cut marks, have been sold: the first, sold in our London rooms, 20th June 2001, lot 101, and now in the Hedda and Lutz Franz collection, illustrated by Emily Byrne Curtis, Pure Brightness Shines Everywhere. The Glass of China, Burlington, 2004, no. 8.2 and in FranzArt. Chinese Art from the Hedda and Lutz Franz Collection. Glass, Hong Kong, 2011, p. 104, no. 1066; the second from the Edward T. Chow Collection, exhibited at the Baur Collection, One Man's Taste: Treasures from the Lakeside Pavilion, Geneva, 1988-1989, cat, no. G4, and sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 548; and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th May 2014, lot 2918.

Sotheby's. Yongzheng – The Age of Harmony and Integrity Hong Kong, 07 avr. 2015