Lot 2903. Two blue and white archaistic wine vessels and stands, jue, Qianlong four-character seal marks and of the period (1736-1795); The larger, 5 3⁄8 in.(13.5 cm) high overall. Price realised HKD 2,125,000 (Estimate HKD 500,000-HKD 700,000). © Christie's 2021

Each jue is decorated to the exterior in vibrant shades of cobalt blue depicting cranes in flight admist scrolling clouds. The body is supported on three feet decorated with floral scrolls. Both stands are similarly decorated with further cranes in flight amongst clouds.

Provenance: The collection of Kenneth Robert Malcolm, C.B.E.
Sold at Sotheby's London, 16 June 1999, lot 874 (the left of the present illustration).

Literature: Chugoku meito ten: Chugoku toji 2000- nen no seika (Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics), Tokyo, 1992, no. 141 (the right of the present illustration).

Note: Compare the present lot with a blue and white decorated jue and stand in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Rose Kerr in Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p. 67, no. 44. Another very similar jue and stand with the same crane and cloud decoration were sold at Christie’s London, 6 November 2018, lot 244.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 3 Dec 2021