Lot 1752. A fine and rare iron-red and gilt decorated rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 3¼ in. (8.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 600,000 - HKD 800,000. Price Realized: HKD 847,500 © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The cylindrical body deftly painted in iron-red and black enamels with three large finely detailed carp reserved on a powder-blue ground, amongst further gilt smaller carp, crabs, prawns and aquatic plants, the shoulder with four flower heads framed in quatrefoil panels reserved on a diaper border, the neck with formal shou characters flanked by wan emblems, all framed by formal borders, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Kumasaku Tomita.

Note: A very similar rouleau vase in the Baur collection is illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, volume 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 131; another rouleau vase is also illustrated by John Ayers in Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 193. A related rouleau vase in the Musée Guimet is illustrated by J.J. Marquet de Vasselot and M.J. Ballot, Musée du Louvre: La Ceramique Chinoise-II, Paris, 1922, pl. 26.

A baluster vase of related decoration in the Meiyintang collection is included in The Chinese Porcelain Company catalogue, A Dealer's Record, 1985-2000, p. 125; and another from the Morgan collection is illustrated by S. Marchant & Son, Recent Acquistitions, 2003, fig. 37.