the well-potted ovoid body resting on a tapered foot and sweeping to a tall neck, covered in a sea-green ‘tobi seiji’ glaze with irregular dark-brown splashes, the neatly knife-pared footring burnt orange.

Note: Pear-shaped vases with a long tapering neck are more commonly known without the iron-oxide spots, such as a vase in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Gang Li, Qing ci feng yun/The Charm of Celadon, Beijing, 2010, pl. 67 (below); one from the collections of Marcus D. Ezekiel, H.R.N Norton and Mr and Mrs Brodie Lodge, sold three times in our London rooms, in 1946, 1963 and 7th June 1988, lot 180. A larger vase of this form was sold in our London rooms, 11th June 1996, lot 23; and another, from the Falk collection, was sold at Christie’s New York, 21st September 2001, lot 481.