A 'robin's-egg' glazed lantern vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795)
Lot 3643. A 'robin's-egg' glazed lantern vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 23.7 cm, 9 3/8 in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD (25,478 - 38,217 USD). Lot Sold 250,000 HKD (31,890 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.
the ovoid body supported on a straight foot and rising to a short waisted neck, applied with two flat vase-shaped mock handles, brightly covered with an opaque turquoise-blue glaze of robin's-egg type suffused overall with a finely mottled dark purplish blue, the base incised with a six-character reign mark all beneath the glaze, the unglazed foot dressed in a dark brown wash, wood stand.
Note: This so-called 'lantern' shape, with its unusual vase-shaped flanges on either side, originated in the Yongzheng period, when it was made with guan-type and ge-type glazes, but in the Qianlong period it became a characteristic form for the robin's-egg glaze; compare two Yongzheng examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Qing porcelains from the Imperial kilns preserved in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, pls. 174 and 206. Compare also a similar vase sold in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 6, from the Meiyintang collection.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2018, 03:00 PM