Lot 107. A peachbloom-glazed 'beehive' waterpot, taibaizun, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 7.3 cm, 2 ⅞ in. Estimate: 800,000 - 1,200,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,386,000HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the box and cover of shallow domed shape to form a compressed sphere, covered with a brilliant mottled peachbloom glaze of pinkish tone, transmuting to a pale liver colour towards the base, the footrim with a neatly finished groove around the outer edge.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 29th April 2001, lot 534.

Note: Also known as the yinse he ('seal colour box'), or 'vermillion box', the present piece is one of the eight peachbloom wares made for the scholar's table as discussed in Ralph Chait, 'The Eight Prescribed Peachbloom Shapes Bearing K'ang-Hsi Marks', Oriental Art, Winter 1957, vol. III, no. 4, pp. 130-137.

Similar seal boxes can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 138; in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 141; and in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum's Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 11. Compare also one sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th May 2013, lot 2101.