Lot 2909. An exceptionally fine and rare pair of doucai ‘lotus’ small lobed vases, Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735); 4 in. (10.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 8,000,000 - HKD 12,000,000. Price realised HKD 9,700,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Each vase is delicately potted with six gently lobed sides, supported on a short foot rising to a long straight neck. The body is decorated with alternating lotus blooms and ruyi-heads borne on a scroll, between two smaller bands of lotus scroll. The neck is decorated with a frieze of linked ruyi-heads, below a band of classic scroll around the mouth, wood stands, box; together with a copy of A.W. Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works of Art in China, London, 1911.

Provenance: Collection of Li Chi Bai of Guangzhou, acquired prior to 1908

Literature: A.W. Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain & Works of Art in China, London, 1911, pl. LXXX

Exhibited: Exhibition held at Shanghai in November, 1908, under the auspices of the North-China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Note: These exceptionally fine vases are very rare and only a few other examples are known. A pair, formerly in the T.Y. Chao Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19 May 1987, lots 298 and 299. A single one, formerly in the E.T. Chow Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 134; another was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 133; and one was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 October 1994, lot 618.

Small delicate vases of this type were displayed in the palace as receptacles for flowers, possibly on a scholar’s desk. Collected in the Palace Museum is a portrait depicting the Qianlong Emperor dressed in Han attire in a scholar’s studio, together with a monochrome lobed vase of related form to the current pair, containing flowers and placed on a stand on the table. This portrait is illustrated in the front cover of Tushuo Qinggong ciqi dang an – wenfang juan, Beijing, 2016. Compare also to another type of small doucai vase also with a lobed body and long neck, decorated with the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ motif, such as the one in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Porcelain Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Taipei, 1986, pl. 46; and another one in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 142.