A Guan-Type Hu-shaped vase. Yongzheng seal mark and period. Photo Sotheby's.

of archaic bronze form, the pear-shaped body rising from a slightly spreading foot to a waisted neck encircled with a raised fillet and flanked with a pair of animal handles suspending fixed rings, covered overall with a pale blue glaze suffused with an irregular crackle, the base with a six-character Yongzheng seal mark; 19.3cm., 7 5/8 in. Estimate 200,000-300,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: Bluett & Sons, London, 1934.

The Cartwright collection of Qing monochrome wares

NOTE: 'Guan', the 'official' ware of the Southern Song court, is perhaps the most admired and desirable of all types of Chinese ceramics. The Yongzheng emperor was a great admirer of 'Guan' wares and is known to have sent original pieces from his collection to the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen as models to copy. The present exquisite vase is a fine example of such reproduction where the complexity of its seemingly simple form, the rare beauty of its glaze colour and the fascinating pattern of its crackle have been masterly achieved by the Jingdezhen potter. A very similar vase, possibly the pair to this piece, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 78. Another Yongzheng vase of the same form and animal-head handles but the body decorated in relief and covered with a celadon glaze is also included ibid., pl. 105. Compare also a closely related tea-dust glazed hu, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 152; and another from the British Rail Pension Fund sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 54.

The form of this vessel is derived from bronze prototype. See a zun excavated from the Western Han tomb dated before 179 B.C. at Qianping, Yichang, Hubei province, published in Kaogu xuebao, 1976, no. 2, p. 124, fig. 12. 

Vases of this type continued to be made during Qianlong's reign in a variety of glazes; for example see a vase of similar size covered in a Ru-type glaze sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th April 1997, lot 578; a 'robin's egg' glaze example of slightly larger proportions, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2009, lot 1895; and a larger tea-dust glazed version sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1523.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 09 Nov 2011 www.sothebys.com