An imperial inscribed gilt-decorated celadon-glazed melon-form jarlet, Qianlong cyclical wuchen mark corresponding to 1748
Lot 2927. An imperial inscribed gilt-decorated celadon-glazed melon-form jarlet, Qianlong cyclical wuchen mark corresponding to 1748 and of the period; 3 3⁄8 in. (8.6 cm.) high. Price realised HKD 2,375,000 (Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 800,000). © Christie's 2021
The small jar is finely potted with ribbed sides in the shape of a melon and inscribed in gilt with an imperial poem, all below a band of stylised ruyi-heads to the shoulder and a band of upright lappets enclosing the foot rim.
Provenance: Sold at Christie's London, 6 November 2012, lot 275.
Note: The Imperial poem inscribed on the present jarlet is recorded in Siku Quanshu (The Complete Library of the Four Treasures). For a blue-ground wall-vase with kui-dragons with the same calligraphic poem; and another pair of wall-vases with the same poem decorated with iron-red kui-dragons, see Poem and Porcelain: The Yu Zhi Shi Ceramics in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2016, p. 170, no. 52 and p. 88, no. 61.
Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 3 Dec 2021