Lot 5. A pair of faceted celadon jars and covers, Marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); height 13.8 cm., 5 3/8 in. Estimate 5,000,000-7,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 6,020,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

each of rectangular section with chamfered corners, the straight sides curving in towards a domed shoulder and straight neck, set on the shoulders with a pair of small, delicate loops vertically attached, surmounted by a flat cover with a similar loop knop, evenly covered overall in a translucent light blue-green glaze, inscribed to the recessed base with a threecolumn six-character reign mark.

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th November 1996, lot 847.

LITERATURE: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1805.

NOTE: This manner of rendering the Yongzheng reign mark is highly unusual and this style is not included, for example, in Geng Baochang's listing of reign marks (Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 342). While the six-character mark arranged in three columns only appears with a circular surround or written in seal script, the rectangular mark is usually arranged in two columns.

A single Yongzheng jar of this elegant form and glaze colour is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 274, pl. 103; another single jar was sold in these rooms, 27th April 2003, lot 262, and again 5th October 2011, lot 1932. A related celadon-glazed jar and cover of Qianlong mark and period (AD 1736-95), closely following the present pair in shape, but the handles not pierced, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, see Qing Kang Yong Qian ming ci tezhan / Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Museum Palace[sic], National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 100. 

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection, Part III - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. Hong Kong | 04 Apr 2012, 10:15 AM