Lot 114. A pair of large ru-type bottle vases, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Estimate 900,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.  

each robustly potted after the Song dynasty prototype, the compressed globular body resting on a slightly splayed foot and sweeping up to a tall gently waisted neck and cupped mouth, the shoulder bordered with three horizontal raised ribs, the neck with two evenly spaced fillets above a further raised fillet collaring the lower neck, evenly applied overall with a translucent pale greyish-blue glaze suffused with a dense network of beige crackles, the base removed - 37.8 and 38.3 cm, 14 7/8  and 15 in.

Note: Several larger Yongzheng-marked vases of this shape and glaze, with rectangular apertures at the foot, are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei; see one published in The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2007, cat. no. II-27.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Part III, Hong Kong, 05 Oct 2016, 11:30 AM