A rare Ru-type ovoid vase. Qianlong seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period  (1736-1795)

The slender ovoid body rising from a spreading foot to a narrow waisted neck and a flaring mouth rim, covered overall with a soft bluish-grey glaze suffused with a wide network of fine pale brown crackle, the foot ring with a brown wash - 8 in. (20.3 cm.) high, wood stand, box - Estimate: $80,000 - $100,000

Provenance : Christie's, Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1582.

Notes : Qianlong-marked vases of this form with guan-type glazes are known. One in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, is illustrated by Mino and Robinson, Beauty and Tranquility, The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, p. 340, fig. 20; and another was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 28 October 2002, lot 722A. Compare, also, a related Qianlong-marked vase of this form, covered in a pale celadon glaze, illustrated by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, vol. III, Geneva, 1974, no. A380.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 17 September 2008. New York, Rockefeller Plaza. www.christies.com