Lot 307. A Guan-type twin-handled vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795);9 ½ in. (24.3 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 50,000 - GBP 80,000 (USD 65,100 - USD 104,160). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The elegantly potted vase is moulded with three concentric bands and decorated to the sides with a pair of monster masks with fixed rings, covered overall in a thick unctuous greyish-celadon glaze with faint golden crackles, stopping just above the foot to reveal the dark body. 

Note: The moulded bowstrings and animal-mask mock handles on the current vase have been adapted from those seen on ancient bronze vessels as early as the Zhou dynasty. The present vase was likely to have been modelled after an archaic bronze in Qianlong's own collection of archaic bronzes, such as the example published in the Xiqing Gujian, 'Inspection of Antiques from the Zhou Dynasty'. The present vase, while having a shape that refers to ancient bronze forms, is undecorated so as not to detract from its beautiful glaze based on Song dynasty ceramics.
The application of Song-type celadon glazes to porcelain, such as the present lot, was another aspect of archaism seen at the court of the Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors. The use of Song-type glazes on porcelains had started at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in the early Ming dynasty, and was one of several archaistic trends that continued into the Qing reigns. Song dynasty glazes that were particularly revered by the Ming and Qing emperors included Northern Song ru ware and Southern Song guan ware and ge ware. Although a number of Qing dynasty ceramics decorated with Song-style glazes were made in ancient forms, as in the case of the present vase, there are examples of the same Song-type glazes being applied to new shapes that were pioneered at the time.