Lot 3120. A small ivory-glazed incense stick holder, Yongzheng six-character incised seal mark and probably of the period; 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price Realized USD 27,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

Finely potted with a compressed pear-shaped body, the vessel is pierced on the wide and slightly domed top with three circular apertures, and is covered overall with an even glaze of warm ivory tone.

Note: A similar white or ivory-glazed vessel, also with incised Yongzheng mark, is illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, Vol. I, Part 2, Beijing, 2005, pp. 212-3, no. 92. Compare to another Yongzheng-marked vessel of similar form covered in a robin's-egg-blue glaze in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 37 - Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 187. See, also, an aubergine-glazed example illustrated in Imperial Perfection; The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors: The Wang Xing Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2004, no. 95, which is incised with a Qianlong seal mark. Also illustrated, no. 74, is a celadon-glazed example with carved decoration, bearing a Qianlong seal mark in underglaze blue, where it is suggested that vessels of this type may have been used to hold not only incense sticks but flowers,

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza