Lot 6. A blue and white hexagonal vase, hu, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795); 46.5 cm, 18 1/4  in. Est: £30,000 - £50,000. Lot sold 37,500 £ (42,949 €). © Sotheby's.

of archaistic fanghu form, the hexagonal body rising from a splayed foot to a waisted neck, flanked by a pair of tubular lug handles, the exterior finely painted in rich cobalt-blue with composite lotus and peony scrolls wreathed by feathery foliage, similarly decorated around the angled shoulders and handles, the neck encircled with a band of crested waves, all between a keyfret band at the rim and stylised florets at the foot, the base with a seal mark in underglaze blue. 

Note: This large vase, densely decorated with Ming-style composite flower scrolls, belongs to a group of vessels that is inspired by celebrated traditions while being firmly rooted in the modernity of the eighteenth century. Compare a closely related example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of K’ang-Hsi, Yung-Cheng and Ch’ien-Lung Porcelain Ware From The Ch’ing Dynasty, 1986, cat. no. 68; one in the Capital Museum, Beijing,  illustrated in Gems of the Official Kilns, Taipei, 1993, pl. 84; and a third example in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, published in Treasures In The Royalty. The Official Kiln Porcelain of The Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 238. Further vases include two sold in our Hong Kong rooms, the first, from the T. Y. Chao collection, 24th November 1987, lot 75 and again, 1st November 1999, lot 386, and the other, 8th October 2008, lot 2567; one sold in these rooms, 10th June 1986, lot 277; and another sold at Christie’s New York, 30th May 1991, lot 324.

A fine blue and white hexagonal vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 44.6 cm., 17 ½ in. Sold for 4,580,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2008, lot 2567. © Sotheby's.

A rare and large Ming-style blue and white hexagonal vase, Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 47.7cm (17 5/8in) high. Sold for HK$ 3,040,000 (€319,217) at Bonhams Hong Kong, 27 Nov 2014. Photo Bonhams.