Lot 269. A very large guan-type archaistic vase, hu, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735). Estimate GBP 80,000 - GBP 120,000 (USD 104,880 - USD 157,320). Price realised GBP 162,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The vase has a pair of stylised dragon handles and is decorated with raised archaistic straps and bosses, covered overall in a celadon glaze with a network of dark grey crackles.

Provenance: Acquired in China prior to 1913 by an Italian official (1863-1913) from a Venetian family of ship owners, and thence by descent within the family. 

Note: The shape of the current vase is based on an archaic bronze prototype. Examples of this form decorated with various different glazes are known, including a Ming blue and white vase from the W.W. Winkworth (1897-1991) collection that was sold at Sotheby's London on 12 December 1972, lot 83; a Yongzheng mark and period 'tea dust'-glazed vase illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, 1989, p. 298. pl. 127; and a Qianlong mark and period Guan-type vase, illustrated in R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. II, no. 873.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, 7 November 2017, London