Lot 254. An underglaze-blue and copper-red 'Monkey' vase, Qing dynasty, 18th century. Estimate 12,000 — 15,000 GBP. Unsold. Photo: Sotheby's.

the tapering ovoid body rising from a recessed base to a tall broad neck with a rolled rim, decorated around the sides with six playful monkeys hanging on different parts of a pine tree, one perched on a rocky outcrop below, the other side with a flowering tree growing next to a large rock with wasps in flight below a copper-red sun, the neck further decorated with bamboo and chrysanthemum among rocks below a band of key fret around the rim and diaper bands on the shoulder, the base with a later added inscription stating that the vase was purchased by Cheng Weishan in the gengshen year of the Xianfeng period (corresponding to 1860), engraved by Zeng Hongman; 48 cm, 18 7/8  in. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 11 May 2016