Lot 3685. A flambé-glazed vase, fanghu, Incised seal mark and period of Qianlong. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo Sotheby's

of archaistic fanghu form, robustly potted with a pear-shaped body sweeping up to a quatrefoil mouth, the neck flanked by a pair of angular lug handles, the two main sides moulded with a raised peach-shaped panel, covered overall with an unctuous crushed-raspberry glaze with streaked shades of lavender, the base with a pale brown wash covering an incised six-character seal mark, wood stand - 30.2 cm., 11 7/8  in.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2009, lot 1896.

Notes: A flambe-glazed hu of the same form, also with a Qianlong seal mark and of the period, in the Capital Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Beauty of Ceramics. Gems of the Official Kilns, Taipei, 1993, pl. 146; another in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 47; and a third in J.J. Marquet de Vasselot and M.J. Ballot, The Louvre Museum: Chinese Ceramics, Paris, 1922, pl. 35 top.

See also a similar vase from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, recently sold in these rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3509.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 07 oct. 2015, 02:30 PM