Lot 3629. A large 'Ge'-type hexagonal vase, hu, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 46.5 cm., 18 1/4  in. Estimate 1,200,000 — 1,800,000 HKD (140,063 - 210,094 EUR). Lot sold 1,500,000 HKD (172,434 EUR). Photo Sotheby's

of hexagonal section, sturdily potted with rounded sides rising from a splayed foot to a waisted neck, the neck flanked by a pair of tubular lug handles, the exterior unctuously covered with a soft grey glaze suffused with a dense network of black crackling and golden threads, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark.

Note: 'Ge', one of the official wares of the Southern Song court (1127-1279), has historically been and continues to be one of the most admired and desirable of all types of Chinese ceramics. The Yongzheng (1723-1735) and Qianlong Emperors were particularly keen admirers of ge wares and had original pieces sent to the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen as models to copy. Every aspect of the Song ware was observed and emulated, from the colour of the glaze and crackling, to the foot being left unglazed then stained in a dark colour, to capture the essence of the prototype. Vases of this form and glaze began to be produced during the Yongzheng period, such as one of similar size, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated inThe Complete Collection of Treasure of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 204.

A closely related vase was included in the exhibition Shincho toji [Porcelain of the Qing dynasty], Kunryudo, Tokyo, 1995, cat. no. 35; one with less prominent crackles was sold twice in these rooms, 29th November 1979, lot 292, and 20th May 1981, lot 822; another was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 25th October 1993, lot 812; and a smaller example was sold in these rooms, 8th April 2009, lot 1651.

Vases of this form and size are also known covered overall in various monochrome glazes; see a pale blue-glazed example in the Hakutsuru Art Museum, Kobe, illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu [Catalogue of world’s ceramics], Tokyo, 1956, pl. 46; one covered with a tea-dust glaze, published in Chinese Ceramics from the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 964; and another from the Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo, sold in our London rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 3. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 07 oct. 2015, 02:30 PM