Lot 3106. A fine and magnificent large blue and white 'dragon' vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 46 cm., 18 1/8 in. Estimate 20,000,000 — 30,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 29,780,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

well potted of elongated pear shape with a swelling body sweeping up to a slender neck, exquisitely painted in vivid cobalt-blue with five sinuous five-clawed dragons animatedly posing in various positions around the vase amidst a dense lotus ground, all between a band of waves and pendant ruyi heads encircling the mouth and waves and 'classic' scroll skirting the foot, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Mrs. Christian Holmes Collection.
William H. Wolff, Inc., New York, January 1966.
Evelyn Annenberg-Hall Collection.
Christie's New York, 29th March 2006, lot 169. 

Note: This magnificent dragon vase is especially fine for its elegant slender form and unusually large size. A related example painted with a similar design but with a mixed flower scroll rendered in underglaze red, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 209.

This piece belongs to a special group of vases produced during the Qianlong period, with elongated tall neck and pear-shaped body. Examples can be found in important museums and collections worldwide and each vase within the group appears to be uniquely decorated; for example see one painted with figures in a landscape, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated ibid., pl. 119; another decorated with a composite floral motif sold in these rooms, 2nd May 1984; and a third example adorned with a flower scroll design in the Ming style, from the collection of Jolan Hennings, sold at Christie's New York, 9th November 1978, lot 97, and again in these rooms, 25th November 1981, lot 224.

The present vase is notable for its dynamic design of dragons amongst floral scrolls, a motif that is known from fifteenth century blue and white wares and which was revived under the Qianlong emperor. See a blue and white tianqiuping decorated with dragons and scrolling lotus, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 72; and a hu vase sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 271; and another sold in our London rooms, 9th November 2000, lot 327. The effectiveness of the overall design of the present vase is also due to the brilliant deep blue cobalt, which reflects the high level of technical achievement attained by the craftsman.

Vessels of this form were also made covered in monochrome glaze; for example see a large Qianlong flambé-glazed vase, in the Nanjing Museum, included in Zhongguo Qingdai guanyao  ciqi, Shanghai, 2003, p. 345; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 345; and a third flambé-glazed vase decorated in gilt with a floral motif, from the Qing Court collection is illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 393, pl. 74.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2011

NDB: This vase was later sold for 49,037,500 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 05 April 2017, lot 3618.