Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 28 November 2018
A fine blue and white double-gourd flask, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736- 1795)
Lot 2968. A fine blue and white double-gourd flask, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736- 1795); 6 ¾ in. (17.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,375,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018.
The flask is supported on a recessed foot rising to a globular lower body curving to a narrow waist, the elongated upper bulb thinning to a tapered neck and flanked by ‘S’-shaped handles ending in ruyi-heads. The exterior is decorated with a band of ruyi-shaped pendants encircling the mouth rim and stylised lotus scrolls covering the body and handles, the base is inscribed with the reign mark in underglaze blue, box.
Provenance: An American private collector, active from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Note: The present vase is very rare, as no other double-gourd vase decorated with lotus scroll pattern appears to have been published, most examples are decorated with a double-dragon pattern. See a Qianlong-marked vase decorated with a dragon pattern in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, accession no. ?-?-006955-N000000000. Also see another similar vase sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2006, lot 1409.
A fine blue and white double-gourd 'Dragon' vase, Qianlong six-character sealmark and of the period (1736- 1795); 7 in. (17.8 cm.) high. Price realised HKD 660,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2006, lot 1409. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006.
Finely decorated to each face with confronted dragons descending on either side of ashou medallion, the long sinuous bodies with elaborate streaming scrolls, the tails surrounding a stylised bat medallion, the arched handles joined at the body with a ruyi-head terminal and reserved with flowers on a blue-ground, box. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 400,000.
Previously sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31 October 1995, lot 469.
A Qianlong-marked flask of this pattern in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ching Dynasty Porcelain, pl. 3; and another flask of the same form with gilt decoration on a blue-ground was included in the exhibition, Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain, Taiwan, 1986, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 78.