Lot 1519. A very fine imperial blue and white hexagonal vase, Qianlong six-character sealmark and of the period (1736-1795); 26 in. (66 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000. Price realised HKD 3,480,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006

The faceted body is well painted on each face in a deep underglaze-blue with single upright boughs of peach, pomegranate and persimmon, forming the Three Abundances, sanduo, alternating with flowering branches of peony, chrysanthemum and lotus, divided by arabesques and lotus sprays at the angles, the waisted neck similarly decorated with smaller upright floral sprays, the rim encircled with key pattern, the shoulder with a key-fret band above pendent ruyi, and the spreading squared foot with baroque cartouches above a further key-fret border, wood stand. 

Note: Compare with similar Qianlong-marked vases included in Selected Masterpieces of the Matsuoka Museum of Art, 1975, no. 102; illustrated by Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Qingdai Bufen, p. 160, fig. 146; one sold in these Rooms, 27 April 1989, lot 724; and a pair from the collection of General Field-Marshall Alfred, Count von Waldersee, sold at Sotheby's London, 12 July 2006, lot 116.

A similar vase but with a Yongzheng mark from the Grandidier Collection in the Musee Guimet, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha series, vol. VII, no. 164.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Hong Kong, 28 November 2006