Lot 528. A fine blue and white Ming-style bottle vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 15 1/8  in., 38.4 cm. Estimate 100,000 — 150,000 USD. Lot sold 168,750 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the globular body and tall, waisted neck, finely painted in rich 'heaped and piled' cobalt-blue tones with a composite floral scroll band, all between lotus-lappet and classic scroll borders at the foot and a ruyi band and floral scroll divided by molded fillets at the shoulder, the neck with keyfret and still leaves below a collar of waves at the rim, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Marchant & Son, London.
Swedish Private Collection.
Marchant & Son, London.

Note: Both in subject matter and in form, the present vase is inspired by classic Ming dynasty prototypes. Qing revivals of the Ming-style aesthetic were popular throughout the entirety of the dynasty. The present form, with its refined lines and elegant decoration and simulation of the famous ‘heaping and piling’ effect of early Ming blue and white wares, first appeared during the Qianlong reign and was produced during subsequent periods. There is some variation within the form, the main one being the raised fillets encircling the shoulder, a feature of the present example.

A closely related example in the Nanjing Museum, is illustrated in Treasures of the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 233; one in the Shanghai Museum is published in Zhongguo taoci quanji [The complete collection of Chinese ceramics], vol. 15, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 2; and four vases are illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, vol. III, London, 1996, pl. 2564, one with an elaborate 19th century Ottoman gilt-metal cover. Another vase of this type, from the Toguri Collection, was sold in these rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 5; another was sold in our London rooms, 10th November 2010, lot 102A; and a third vase was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th June 2015, lot 3235, and another recently sold in these rooms, 12th September 2018, lot 148.