Lot 3507. A fine and rare teadust-glazed pear-shaped vase, hu, Qianlong impressed six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 10 1/4 in. (26 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000. Price Realized HKD 4,240,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The vase is well potted in hu-form with a globular lower body resting on a slightly spreading foot, rising to a broad cylindrical neck and gently stepped rim. The neck is flanked by a pair of cylindrical lug handles. It is covered overall in an attractive lightly speckled opaque olive-green glaze, wood stand, Japanese double wood boxes. 

Provenance: Yokoyama Family Collection, Japan
Previously sold at the Kyoto Bijutsu Club auction of property from the Yokoyama Family in Kanazawa, Japan, 1924.

Exhibited: Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Tokugawa Museum of Art, Nagoya, 1953.

Note: Qianlong-marked monochrome vases of this shape are rare and the form is more commonly seen in the Qianlong period with loop handles such as the teadust-glazed example in the Baur Collection, otherwise very similar to the current vase, illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. 2, p. 196, no. 296. A further example covered in teadust glaze in the Tokyo National Museum is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, vol. 1, Kodansha Series, Japan, 1982, no. 168 and a Ru-type example was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 804.

Pear-shaped hu vases with lug handles are more commonly found on vases of a slightly larger size during the preceding Yongzheng reign period. A Yongzheng-marked flambé-glazed example in the Palace Museum is illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 200, no. 180. Compare also a Qianlong-marked teadust vase of the same form but lighter in tone sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2007, lot 1524 and another at Sotheby's New York, 15 September 2010, lot 256.

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