Lot 125. A yellow-ground underglaze-blue handled vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Estimate 25,000 — 30,000 GBP (31,928 - 38,313 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

of quatrefoil section, well potted with a baluster body resting on a splayed foot and sweeping up to a long waisted neck and flared rim, the neck flanked by a pair of scroll handles modelled in the form of a stylised dragon, the body painted in varying tones of cobalt blue with a meandering leafy scroll bearing large stylised lotus blooms, between a band of pendent ruyi motifs and a band of upright lappet border, the neck bordered with a frieze of large upright archaistic plantain leaves between two floral scroll borders, the foot similarly picked out with a floral scroll band above a pendent ruyi band, all against a yellow ground save for the base, the white base centred with a six-character underglaze-blue seal mark; 30.4 cm, 12 in.

Note: Qianlong mark and period vases of this elegant lobed form are more commonly known covered in a monochrome glaze; see a tea-dust glazed example, from the Huaihaitang collection, included in the exhibition Ethereal Elegance. Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, cat. no. 59; a Ge-type glazed vase from the collections of Wah Kwong and T.Y. Chao, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th November 1986, lot 88, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st March 1992, lot 577; and a larger version covered in a celadon glaze, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th November 1996, lot 858. Compare also a slightly larger vase of this form, similarly painted in underglaze blue with a lotus scroll, but lacking the mark, from the Huaihaitang collection and included in the exhibition op. cit., cat. no. 93.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art Londres, 11 mai 2016, 10:00 AM