Lot 1541. A rare Ming-style blue and white double-gourd vase, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 500,000. Price realised HKD 360,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006

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 with classic scrolls and petals, and the base with overlapping petals, inscribed on the underside with an apocryphal Xuande six-character mark, box. 

Note: Previously sold at Sotheby's London, 13 November 2002, lot 129.

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. Important Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Hong Kong, 28 November 2006