Lot 3109. A fine and exceedingly rare blue and white ‘Fruit and flower spray’ vase, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735); 22 1/2 in. (57 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 32,000,000 - HKD 45,000,000. Price realised HKD 37,260,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019. 

The vase is robustly potted with a compressed globular body rising from a splayed foot to a slightly waisted neck beneath a flared mouth. The body is exquisitely painted in delicate shades of cobalt blue with six fruit and flower sprays, comprising camellia flowers, fruiting and flowering pomegranate and peach, and vines of melon, below a band of lotus lappets around the shoulder and crashing waves around the foot. The neck is decorated with a broad band of lotus scroll, between rows of scrolling florettes, trefoils and ruyi-heads. 

Provenance: Frans August Larson (1870-1957), a Swedish missionary, diplomat and businessman who resided in Northern China and Mongolia from 1893 to 1939, and thence by descent within the family.