A Guan-Type vase, Hu. Seal mark and period of Qianlong.  Photo Sotheby's

robustly potted, modelled after the archaic bronze hu vessels, the broad pear-shaped body of oval section supported on a flared foot, moulded on each side with mock straps dividing the body into quadrants centred with a lozenge, the narrow sides of the neck flanked by a pair of dragon-shaped handles, covered overall with a pale grey-green glaze, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark, the foot dressed in a brown wash; 36 cm., 14 1/8 in. Estimate 4,000,000-6,000,000 HKD

EXHIBITED: Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, The British Museum, London, 1994.
Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/ Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 158.

LITERATURE: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 873.

NOTE: The type of this vase is derived from a Western Zhou (c. 1046-771 BC) bronze ritual vessel shape, although the handles are freely adapted. Bronze originals with this kind of decoration are, however, more typically in the form of you, with simple ring handles to hold a tall, arched overhead handle with animal-head terminals, and with a cover; see an example from the Princeton University Art Museum, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Washington, D.C., 1990, pl. 67.

A 'tea-dust' glazed vase of this form, also of Qianlong mark and period, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Qing porcelains from the Imperial kilns preserved in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, pl. 125. A similar guan-type vase was sold in these rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1624; another in our London rooms, 12th July 2006, lot 132.

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