Lot 3016. A white-glazed olive-shaped vase with handles, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 26.8 cm., 10 5/8 in. Estimate 300,000 — 500,000 HKD. Lot Sold 2,660,000. Photo Sotheby's

elegantly potted with curved sides rising to a rounded shoulder, surmounted by a slender waisted neck with a cup-shaped mouth, the neck flanked by ear-shaped handles, applied overall with a lustrous white glaze, the recessed base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double-circle.

Note: Vases of this form are rare, although a closely related example, but covered in a whitish Guan-type glaze, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, vol. 1, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 158. Compare also a Yongzheng mark and period vase of this shape, but decorated in underglaze blue with a wide band of floral scrolls between rows of stiff leaves, in the Wang Xing Lou collection, included in the exhibition Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 2004, cat. no. 6; and another in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. K'ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 69.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2011.