Lot 3223. A fine and rare iron-red and gilt-decorated 'Carp’ rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722), 18 ½ in. (47 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price realised HKD 625,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The cylindrical body is deftly painted in iron red and black enamels with four large finely detailed carp reserved on a powder-blue ground, amongst further gilt smaller carp and aquatic plants, the shoulder with four flowerheads framed in quatrefoil panels reserved on a diaper border, the neck with two striding three-clawed dragons in gilt, all framed by formal borders. The base is decorated with an underglaze-blue lingzhihead. Japanese wood box. 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, formed over the last two decades.

Note: Compare to similarly-decorated vases including one in the Baur collection is illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, volume 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 131; another illustrated by John Ayers in Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 193; one in the Musée Guimet is illustrated by J.J. Marquet de Vasselot and M.J. Ballot, Musée du Louvre: La Ceramique Chinoise-II, Paris, 1922, pl. 26. 

Porcelain rouleau vase with powder-blue glaze and decorated in iron red and gold, Jingdezhen, China, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Given by W.G. Gulland, Esq., 199-1905 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall