Lot 2568. A fine Guan-type triple-spouted double-gourd vase, Qianlong six-character sealmark and of the period (1736-1795); 8 in. (20.3 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price realised HKD 400,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2008.

Well potted in the form of three conjoined vases rising from the three-lobed body to the conforming necks, applied overall with a pale grey glaze suffused with a fine crackle simulating the Guan-type glaze, the short trefoil foot ring dressed with a brown wash, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, Himeiji city acquired in the 1950's.

Note: Cf. two identical Qianlong-marked examples of this conjoined double-gourd form, the first is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyingtang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, p. 217, no. 876; and another is in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, 1996, no. 521. Compare with another vase, seemingly without any crackles, in the Baur collection, illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. 2, p. 164, no. 270, A336. A pair of these vases was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 October 1991, lot 812.