Lot 127. A fine and rare flambé-glazed vase, Incised Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-1795). Estimate HK$ 600,000 - 700,000 (€70,000 - 82,000). Unsold. Photo: Bonhams.

With steep sides and slender neck converging towards a thickly lipped mouth, flanked by a pair of thin elephant-head handles, all lustrously decorated in a thick purplish-red glaze with striking streaks of creamy bluish glaze, the base incised with a six-character zhuanshu seal mark. 22cm (8 5/8in) high

Note: The stylised elephant handles on the present lot can be interpreted as xiang, forming the pun taiping youxiang, meaning 'a sign of peacefulness'.

Similar flambé-glazed vases, Qianlong seal mark and period, can be found in important museum collections: compare one illustrated in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum: The Chinaware Volume, the Second Part , 2007, p.147; a similar vase in the Exhibition of Chinese and Other Far Eastern Art Assembled by Yamanaka & Co., New York, 1943, no.915; a third flambé-glazed vase is illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics: Ch'ing Official and Popular Wares, Taipei, 1991, p.207; and another example, with obscured mark, is illustrated by J.Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol.2, Geneva, 1999, pl.259.

A similar flambé-glazed vase, Qianlong mark and period, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, lot 3111; and another similar example was sold in our London rooms, 8 November 2012, lot 120.

A superb flambé-glazed vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795). Sold 1,180,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, lot 3111. Photo: Sotheby's.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 30 May 2017, 15:00 HKT, HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY