Lot 36. A Ru-type octagonal vase, Qianlong seal mark and period  (1736-1795);  33cm., 13in. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 GBP. Lot sold 134,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

the tapering body divided into eight facets, rising from a spreading foot to a waisted neck, covered overall in an opaque pale lavender-blue glaze suffused with a faint crackle, the unglazed foot applied with a brown slip, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark, Japanese box. Quantity: 2.

Note: This vase is notable for its lustrous even glaze, which was inspired by the celebrated Ru ware from Henan, the official ware of the Northern Song (960-1127) and the rarest of all the Song dynasty official wares. A closely related vase was sold in our Hong Kong rooms 2nd May 2005, lot 693; and another was sold in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 321, and again in our New York rooms, 16th September 2009, lot 215. Compare also a Daoguang mark and period vase of this form, but covered overall with a Guan-type glaze, in the National Palace Museum, Hong Kong, included in the Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Monochrome Glaze Porcelain, Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 98; and another exhibited in Imperial Porcelain of the Late Qing from the Kwan Collection, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1983, cat. no. 85.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, London, 14 May 2014