Lot 664. A famille-rose 'floral' vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 17 in., 43.3 cm. Estimate  20,000 — 30,000 USD. Lot sold 27,500 USD. © Sotheby's

the ovoid body resting on a splayed foot and rising to a tall cylindrical neck flaring at the rim, brightly enameled allover with a twisting tree branch and tangled stems of lush flowers growing amidst pierced sapphire-blue rockwork, including blooms of hibiscus, chrysanthemum, and lingzhi-shaped coxcomb, the spindly tree branches extending across the shoulders, all on a plain ground, the rim gilt, the interior and recessed base turquoise-enameled, the latter with a six-character seal mark in iron red.

Note: A vase of similar shape and subject matter, enameled with birds and a plain turquoise base, attributed to the Qianlong period, sold in our London rooms, 19th June 2002, lot 49. See a slightly smaller meiping depicting a similar scene, with a four-character iron-red seal mark, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms: 12th May 1976, lot 280, and 18th May 1988, lot 277. A bottle vase formerly in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, enameled with a pheasant and an iron-red seal mark on the base, sold in these rooms 8th November 1980, lot 215, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th May 1987, lot 556. See also a vase of similar form attributed to the Yongzheng/Qianlong period, with the branches extending down the foot, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms: 14th November 1989, lot 266, and 29th October 2001, lot 604. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 11 September 2019