Lot 1350. A fine and rare Ge-type glazed pear-shaped vase, Qianlong six-character mark and of the period (1736-1795); 12 7/8 in. (32.7 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 800,000 - HKD 1,000,000. Price realised HKD 4,600,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006.

Of rounded hu form, the globular body supported on a high circular foot, rising towards the wide cylindrical neck, flanked by rectangular flat strap handles with moulded ruyihead terminals below a slight lip at the rim, covered in a pale greenish-grey glaze suffused with a network of larger black and fine light brown crackle, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: A Japanese Private Collection

Note: A slightly smaller ge-type glazed vase of this shape was sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2002, lot 664.

Compare two other Qianlong vases of the same form but covered in teadust glazes, the first in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, vol. 1, Kodansha Series, Japan, 1982, no. 293; and the other illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Vol 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 296, where the author states that the form apparently derives from that of an archaic bronze yu, which is equipped with an overhead swing handle. Cf. also a ru-type glazed vase of this form sold in these Rooms, 1 November 2004, lot 804.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 30 May 2006