Lot 3316. An important large and rare Ru-type baluster vase, fanghu, Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735). Estimate: HKD 3,000,000 - HKD 5,000,000 (USD 388,523 - USD 647,538). Price Realised HKD 3,660,000 (USD 474,072) © Christie’s Images Limited 2016.

Well potted, the tapering square-section body rising in a graceful line from the splayed foot to the wide shoulder, the waisted neck rising to a lipped rim, flanked by a pair of wide strap handles terminating at the shoulder in large ruyi heads, covered overall in a highly attractive unctuous pale blue glaze suffused with subtle pale crackle - 19 1/2 in. (49.6 cm.) high, wood box

Provenance: Monseigneur le Comte (1908-1999) et la Comtesse de Paris (1911-2003)

Notes: Prince Henri of Orleans, Count of Paris was the Orleanist claimant to the throne of France from 1940 until his demise in 1999. The Count of Paris spent many of his formative years in exile in Morocco before returning to France in 1950 after the law of exile was rescinded. 

Much of the collection inherited by the Count of Paris came directly from his royal ancestors, members of the House of Bourbon. It is likely to have been the Duke of Orleans, or his cousin Prince Henri of Orleans, the two great explorers of the family, who brought the current vase back from their travels. The family spent several periods in exile and during the Second World War the collection was sent to be housed in London, Morocco and Belgium. After the end of the war the collection was returned with Henri, 2nd Count of Paris to the family in France.

Yongzheng vases of this large size are extremely rare and the current vase stands out as an exceptional example of the Yongzheng adaptation of the Song dynasty Ru glaze. 

Few Yongzheng examples of this shape have been published and they are usually found in a paler crackled grey Guan-type glaze such as the Yongzheng-marked example of the same form in the Tianjin Arts Museum, included in the Exhibition of Chinese Treasures of 5000 Years, Cultural Relics from Tianjin City in China, Japan, 1985, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 44. Compare also a smaller square-section Guan-type vase in the Zande Lou Collection of similar inspiration but without the splayed foot or everted mouth found on the present vase, included in the exhibition, Qing Imperial Monochromes, the Zande Lou Collection, Chinese University of Hong Kong, illustrated in the Catalogue, pp. 56-57, no. 11. A Yongzheng-marked Guan-type vase of the same form but slightly smaller in size, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 May 1995, lot 100; and again, 10 April 2006, lot 1614. Another slightly larger Guan-type example with more pronounced stained crackling was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 27 April 2003, lot 174. 

A rare massive guan-type vase, fanghu, seal mark and period of Yongzheng. Sold 1,440,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10 April 2006, lot 1614. Photo Sotheby's.

of archaistic fanghu form, the high-shouldered body with curved sides supported on a splayed foot, rising to a slightly waisted neck and lipped rim, flanked by a pair of ruyi-sceptre loop handles, covered overall in a thick greenish-grey glaze suffused with a subtle irregular crackle, the base with a six-character mark (hardwood stand) - 43.8cm., 17 1/4 in.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2nd May 1995, lot 100.

Ru glazes have traditionally been much admired by Chinese connoisseurs, and were copied on porcelain as early as the 15th century. Excavations at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen have revealed that Ru-type glazes were being made for the Ming imperial court. In 1984 a porcelain bowl with inverted rim and Ru-type glaze was excavated from the Xuande stratum at the imperial kilns published in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Urban Council Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 276-7, no. 97. The imitation of this revered glaze became even more popular at court in the 18th century under the Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors.