Lot 2843. A large very rare moulded and carved celadon-glazed vase, Qianlong impressed six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1796); 19 in. (48.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000. Price realised HKD 4,445,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020. 

The ovoid body and tall waisted neck are moulded and carved with a bold design of stylised lotus blooms on scrolling stems bearing curling feathery leaves, applied overall with a rich sea-green glaze pooling to a deeper tone in the recesses and continuing over the widely flaring dished mouth rim into the interior. The seal mark is crisply impressed on the celadon-glazed base, box.

Provenance: Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 April 2004, lot 909.

Note: This vase, decorated with bold designs of luxuriant lotus scrolls, is very rare. Only one closely related example appears to have been published, which is a smaller celadon-glazed vase of similar shape, similarly moulded and carved with scrolling lotus and the base with an underglaze-blue Qianlong seal mark, from the Huaihaitang Collection illustrated in Ethereal Elegance: Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 51.

Compare the style of decoration to the unusual celadon-glazed moulded vase in the Baur Collection, which has a similarly impressed Qianlong seal mark, illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 295. The same effect of the contrasting shades of rich green and nearly white along the edges of the moulded elements, can be seen on a covered jar with archaistic designs in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 141, where a comparable Qianlong mark is also illustrated

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 9 July 2020