Lot 3020. Two fine small blue and white stemcups with 'Lança' characters. Seal marks and period of Qianlong (1736-1795);  wood stands; 8.5 cm., 3 3/8  in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,060,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

each supported on a splayed hollow stem foot angled to the cup with steep sides rising from a flat base to a flared mouthrim, the exterior painted in pencilled cobalt tones with eight lança characters surrounded by an undulating stem of lotus issuing large flower-heads and curled acanthus leaves, the underside with petal lappets above a ring of key-fret and a raised rib picked out with arrowheads, the stem detailed with ruyi-heads suspending interlinked tassels above a border of uprightruyi encircling the foot, the interior with a stylised peony medallion within a double-line border repeated at the rim, the interior of the foot inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark written in a horizontal line.

Provenance: One cup: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th May 1981, lot 747.
The other cup: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1982, lot 247. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2013