A pair of blue glazed bottle vases with gilt medallion decorations, Guangxu six-character marks and of the period. Estimate US$4,000 - 6,000 (€3,500 - 5,300). Photo: Bonhams.

The medallions scattered across the waisted necks and globular bodies including auspicious characters, plants, animals and emblems while shou-characters alternate with composite lotus and leaf sprays within the raised borders on the neck, the powder blue ground also applied on the interior neck and within the tall recessed base where the mark appears on two vertical rows of dark blue regular script. 15 1/4in (38.7cm) high

Notes: For similarly decorated vases from the Guangxu period, see the example sold in Bonhams, Hong Kong, sale 21940, 27 November 2014, lot 175; and the bottle vase sold in Christie's, Hong Kong, sale 3322, 28 May 2014, lot 3452 (15 3/8in, 39.2cm high). A similar vase in the Nanjing Museum was published in Gongting Zhencang: Zhongguo Qingdai Guanyao Ciqi (Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty), 2003, p. 482 (38.5cm high). A comparable example in mirror black glaze in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was published by H. A van Oort, Chinese Porcelain of the 19th and 20th centuries, 1977, Pl. 93, p. 74.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS, 23 Jun 2015 10:00 PDT - SAN FRANCISCO