Sotheby's. Chinese Art, including Snuff Bottles and Jades from an Old Hong Kong Family Collection, Hong Kong, 28 november 2019
A celadon-glazed vase, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)
Lot 457. A celadon-glazed vase, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 26 cm, 10 1/4 in. Estimate HKD 80,000 — 120,000. Lot Sold 937,500 HKD. © Sotheby's.
of cylindrical form with the steeply rounded shoulders set with a short straight neck and tapering slightly at the foot, evenly covered overall in a pale celadon glaze, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze- blue within a double circle.
Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 22nd November 1985, lot 437.
Note: The delicate, almost watery, tone of celadon as found on the present vase is a Kangxi innovation which was produced by lessening the amount of iron typically found in Song dynasty Longquan celadons. This glaze was further modified during the Yongzheng period to a finely textured bluish tone.
A vase of this type but with a cover, in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, is published in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 192; Other vases of this type include an example sold in our New York rooms, 18th March 2014, lot 451, from the Estate of Angela Ciccio Shirone, a pair from the J.M. Hu collection sold in these rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 34 and another pair from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1976, lot 524, and again, 16th May 1989, lot 60.