Lot 3449. A small celadon-glazed lotus pod-form box and cover, Daoguang six-character seal mark and of the period (1821-1850); 2 3/4 in. (7 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 120,000. Price Realized HKD 325,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

The box is delicately potted with rounded sides rising from a recessed base to a flat inward rim. The flattened top of the cover is moulded and incised as a lotus flower centred with a mature pod. Both are covered overall in a soft sea-green glaze with the exception of the base covered in a transparent glaze, box.

Note: The form of the current box and cover simulating a lotus flower in bloom with a mature pod in the centre, is one of the innovative forms presented by the potters at the imperial kiln during the Yongzheng period, when it was rendered in several different glaze colours including white, celadon and qingbai, see examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1, vol. 2, Beijing, 2005, nos. 93, 103, and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 1153, respectively. Boxes of this type made after the Yongzheng period are rare and seldom published.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 28 May 2014