Lot 3706. A very rare Ge-type cong-form wall vase, Qianlong six-character sealmark and of the period (1736-1795); 11 1/8 in. (28.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000. Price realised HKD 560,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Of square cross-section, the corners moulded with the bagua, the Eight Daoist Trigrams, arranged into horizontal registers of two columns, below a semi-circular mouth and raised on a conforming splayed foot ring, covered overall with an unctuous, characteristic crackled Ge-type glaze, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: A Japanese private collection.

Note: No other examples of this type of Ge-type glazed cong wall vases are recorded with exception of a nearly identical Yongzheng-marked wall vase, in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Qingdai Yuyao Ciqi, vol. 1, Forbidden City Press, 2005, p. 347, no. 159. Compare also a Yongzheng-marked cong-form vase sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 December 2008, lot 2562.

The form of this vase is based on a jade cong ritual object with a circular core and a square exterior, often with stylised masks carved in horizontal registers at the corners. For an example, cf. a jade cong dated to the Neolithic period, Liangzhu Culture, in the Nanjing Museum, included in the Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum Exhibition, China, 5000 Years, New York, 1998, Catalogue, no. 5. As early as the Song Dynasty, the Imperial court was fascinated with archaic objects and many wares were produced in imitation of ancient forms, including that of the cong.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall, 1 June 2011