Lot 3421. A blue and white vase, meiping, Qianlong six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 2 5/8 in. (32 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 7,000,000 - HKD 9,000,000. Price realised HKD 10,840,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The vase is sturdily potted with a broad shoulder and waisted neck. It is painted around the exterior in deep shades of blue with simulated 'heaping and piling' to depict six fruit and flower-sprays arranged in two registers, comprising lychee, peach, pomegranate, peony, prunus and lotus, above a band of upright plantain leaves at the foot and ten petal panels below the neck, painted with four floral-sprays..

Property of The Si De Tang Collection.

Note: The inspiration for this shape and pattern originates from examples produced during the early Ming period, such as the 15th century example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II (part 1), Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 1; and two other meiping vases illustrated by T. Misugi, The Ardebil Shrine Collection, Hong Kong University Press, 1981, nos. A69 and A70. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Including The Su Zhu An Collection of Inkstones), Hong Kong, 27 November 2013