Lot 1939. A fine Ming-style blue and white pear-shaped vase, yuhuchunping, Daoguang six-character seal mark and of the period (1821-1850); 11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price realised HKD 2,070,000. © Christies Image Ltd 2013

The globular body is painted in vivid blue tones in imitation of 'heaping and piling' with plantain and bamboo growing beside rocks on grassy mounds, below a band of foliate scroll in-between upright leaves and a pendent ruyi collar at the waisted neck, stand.

Note: Compare to a similar Qianlong-marked vase in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Book II, Hong Kong, 1968, pp. 44-45, pl.12, and included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain, Taipei, 1986, Catalogue no. 72. Blue and white vases of this form and design continued to be made during the reigns of Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu. A Jiaqing-marked example is also offered from the YC Chen Collection, lot 1938.

Christie's. IN PURSUIT OF REFINEMENT - A LEGACY OF THE YC CHEN COLLECTION. Hong Kong, 29 May 2013