Lot 2910. A rare Guan-type glazed hu-shaped vase, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735); 11 1/8 in. (28.1 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,800,000 - HKD 2,600,000 (USD 231,116 - USD 333,835). Unsold. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The vase is of square section, with a slightly compressed rounded body rising to a tall neck demarcated with two pairs of raised bands below the two lug handles underneath a lipped rim, the tall splayed foot with a moulded band at mid-section. It is covered overall with a thick, broadly crackled glaze of greyish-green tone. The foot is applied with a brownish wash.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 319.

Note: This very rare vase reflects the Yongzheng Emperor's deep interest in archaism. The crackled celadon glaze is the outcome of the attempt to reproduce the lustrous glaze found on Guan wares made for the Southern Song (AD 1127-1279) court, while its shape is modelled after that of bronze and gilt-bronze vessels of the Zhou (C.1100-256BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties.

Compare with a Yongzheng-marked vase of similar form but covered in a Ru-type glaze, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 April 2004, lot 946; and another one sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29 April 1997, lot 577. Compare also to a Yongzheng vase of this shape covered in a ge-type glaze, illustrated in The Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, no. 63.