Lot 134. A celadon-glazed jar and cover, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 8 1/2  in., 21.6 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000. Lot sold 47,500 USD. © Sotheby's.

finely potted with the ovoid body rising from a recessed base to a short neck, molded on each side below the shoulders with a reversed C-shaped mock handle, the cover of a shallow domed form, covered overall with a smooth sea-green glaze, thinning to a lighter tone at the rim and handles, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue (2). 

Note: This vessel form, with its superbly harmonious profile, integrating its cover, and its unusual C-shaped motifs on the sides appears to have originated during the Kangxi reign. The shape is often called riyueguan ('sun-and-moon jar'), its cover supposedly representing the sun and the crescents at its sides the moon, but no comparable iconography appears to be known from other works of art. A rare Kangxi version of this design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is included in the exhibition Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Museum Palace, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 27.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 12 sept. 2018, 10:30 AM