Lot 12. A rare Ming-style blue and white double-gourd vase, Yongzheng-Qianlong period (1723-1795); 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 20,000 - GBP 40,000 (USD 20,925 - USD 34,875). Price realised GBP 40,000. © Christie’s Images Limited 2018.

The vase is well potted with two pronounced bulbs, painted in Ming style with a dense composite floral scroll, divided by a waisted neck encircled by bands of key-fret, pendent trefoils and angular lappets. The narrow mouth rim is decorated with classic scrolls and petals. The underside is inscribed with an apocryphal Xuande six-character mark.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 13 November 2002, lot 129
From a private Asian collection
Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1541.

Note: For the Ming prototype of this vase, see the example with very similar proportions and with a Xuande mark from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in the Catalogue to the Special Exhibition of Ming Xuande Ceramic Wares, Taiwan, no. 4; an unmarked vase from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 January 1981, lot 414; and another illustrated by Takushin Kushi, Shina Minsho Tojizukan, pl. 58.

Christie's. Rarity and Refinement: Treasures from a Distinguished East Asian Collection, London, 15 May 2018 - SALE 16837