Lot 138. A fine and large sacrificial blue-glazed bottle vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 46.5 cm, 18 1/2  in. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD (254,800 - 382,200 USD). Lot Sold 4,920,000 HKD (627,595 USD). Photo: Sotheby's.

sturdily potted with a pear-shaped body rising from a slightly splayed foot, elegantly sweeping up to a tall cylindrical neck, covered overall in a rich sacrificial blue glaze gradually thinning at the rim and stopping neatly just above the footring, the interior and base glazed white, inscribed to the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th November 1978, lot 138.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17th May 1988, lot 94.

Note: A slightly shorter vase was sold twice in these rooms, 8th November 1982, lot 270, and 8th October 2013, lot 3058. A vase of this type, also bearing a Qianlong seal mark and of the period, from the Walker Art Gallery, now in the Merseyside County Museums, is illustrated in Nigel Wood, Precious Vessels, Liverpool, 1980, pl. 139; and another from the collection of 'Chinese Gordon' (Gordon of Khartoum), is illustrated in W.G. Gulland, Chinese Porcelain, vol. II, London, 1911, pl. 734.