Lot 75. A blue and white Ming-style bottle vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Height 14¾ in., 37.5 cm. Estimate 50,000 - 70,000 USD. Lot sold: 81,900 USD. © Sotheby's 2021

the globular body rising from a splayed foot to a tall waisted neck, finely painted in 'heaped and piled' deep blue tones with a composite flower scroll band, all between lotus-lappet and classic scroll registers at the foot and a ruyi band and further floral scroll at the shoulder, the neck with stiff leaf and keyfret bands below a wave border at the rim, the recessed base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Property from the Collection of Bruce Dayton and Ruth Stricker Dayton.

Note: Elegantly decorated with early Ming inspired motifs, this vase also successfully simulates the distinctive mottled ‘heaping and piling’ effect of celebrated 15th century blue and white wares through a deliberate application of darker and thicker spots of cobalt on the design. Beginning with the Yongzheng Emperor, successive rulers revisited this famous blue and white pattern. Qianlong period examples include a closely related example in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 233; one in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, published in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 15, part II, Shanghai, 2000, p. 219; and four vases illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, vol. III, London, 1986, pl. 2564, one with an elaborate 19th century Ottoman gilt-metal cover. Another vase of this type, from the Toguri Collection, was sold in these rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 5; another was sold in our London rooms, 10th November 2010, lot 102A; and a third vase was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd December 2015, lot 426.