Lot 62. A flambé-glazed Hu-shaped vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795); 16.5cm., 6 1/2 in. Estimate 50,000-70,000 GBP. Lot sold 73,250 GBP. 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 set with a pair of animal mask handles suspending fixed rings, covered overall with a glaze of brilliant streaked purple-blue and crimson colour thinning to a lilac-blue and cream tone with a slight crackle around the lug handles and rim, the base in a coffee wash with pale russet splashes and bearing an incised six-character Qianlong seal mark.

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London.

The Cartwright Collection

Note: The rich brilliance of the deep purplish-blue glaze of the present vase is accentuated by the light blue enamel of the handles which has trickled down the side to heighten the overall dramatic effect. It is unusual for its small size and no closely related example appears to have been published. For a Qianlong vase of this form and glaze, but of much larger dimensions, see one from the F.C. Harrison collection, formerly on loan at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1903, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1976, lot 568; and another was sold in these rooms, 27th November 1973, lot 381.

Compare the Yongzheng prototype, but of slightly larger size; such as one in the Palace Museum, Beijing illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, vol. I, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 139; and another from the collections of N.H.P. Huth and Edward T. Chow, sold in these rooms, 26th April 1966, lot 110, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 85, and published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 834

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London, 09 Nov 2011