Lot 149. A pale celadon-glazed five-spouted vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795); 17.8cm., 7in. Estimate £10,000 — 15,000 (13,565 - 20,348 EUR). Lot sold 17,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.

elegantly potted with the compressed pear-shaped body rising from a low foot to four short tubular necks, flanking a central larger spout, the base with seal mark in underglaze-blue.

Note: Notable for its elegant shape and cool celadon glaze, this vase draws on celebrated porcelain traditions and reinterprets them to result in an engaging piece. Both the form and glaze are reminiscent of multi-spouted vases made at the Longquan kilns during the Song dynasty (960-1279).

Compare a Qianlong mark and period vase of this form, but covered by a guan-type glaze in the Hangzhou Tu Huo Zhai Museum of Antique Ceramics, Hangzhou, included in the exhibition Treasures of Imperial Porcelain, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou, 2011, cat. no. 68. See also a Yongzheng mark and period vase of this form in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Porcelain Ware, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 65; and a clair-de-lune glazed example included in the Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 132, and sold in our New York rooms, 4th December 1984, lot 351, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th May 2002, lot 506.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 13 may 2015, 11:00 AM