Lot 1448. A Qingbai carved ovoid vase, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 13¼ in. (33.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 6,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The vase is carved with peony blossoms between line borders, above a band of petal lappets and below the neck which is flanked by a pair of flat dragon-form handles with attached rings. The vase is covered overall with a semi-transparent glaze of pale blue tone continuing over the upright rim.

Note: The shape of this vase, with flat, simplified, dragon-form handles suspending stationary rings was a popular form in the Yuan dynasty. A very similar vase was included in the memorial exhibition, The Charles B. Hoyt Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1952, no. 381. Blue and white vases of this shape with flat handles of slightly different shape, also with stationary rings, were also made during the Yuan dynasty. One such vase illustrated in the Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1935-36, no. 1435, is now in the British Museum and illustrated by S.J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, New York, 1991, p. 138.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 21 - 22 March 2013.