Lot 25. A teadust-glazed 'double-gourd' vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 10 1/8 in., 25.8 cm. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold 98,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

well-potted with a globular lower bulb rising to a slender, tapering upper bulb flanked by a pair of S-shaped loop handles terminating in ruyi-heads at the shoulders of the lower bulb, the waist faintly molded with a band of petals divided by a central rib, covered  in an even, finely speckled yellowish-green glaze thinning to reddish-brown at the rim and handles, the footrim covered in a brown wash, incised seal mark, fitted cloth box. 

Property from the Estate of William and Jennifer Shaw

Provenance: Collection of Mrs. James Alsdorf.
Christie's Hong Kong, 22nd-23rd March 1993, lot 733.

Exhibited: Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chinese Art from the Collection of James W. and Marilyn Alsdorf, September 21-November 13, 1970, no c75.

Note: This teadust glaze was one of the innovations of the Yongzheng period, when many ancient ceramic techniques were revived. Similar glazes had been produced by various kilns of northern China during the Tang dynasty. A closely related example is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, vol. I, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 80; one included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 701; another illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 938 which was subsequently sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th October 2011, lot 1935.

See, also a vase of this type from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 55.