Lot 531. An exceptionally rare Ru-type conjoined double-vase, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Height 7¼ in., 18.4 cm. Estimate 40,000 - 60,000 USD. Lot sold 88,200 USD. © Sotheby's 2020.

formed of two adjoined baluster vases, each with a broad swelling shoulder rising from a splayed foot to a contracted neck and galleried rim, applied overall with an unctuous caesious-colored glaze suffused with a fine crackle, the knife-pared foot and mouth rim applied with a brown wash, the base with the six-character seal mark inscribed in a horizontal line in underglaze blue. 

Note: Conjoined vases, incorporating sections of two or more shapes to create a single vessel, were among the most technical challenging wares produced by the imperial kilns during the Qianlong period. The double-vase form is mostly commonly associated with enameled porcelain, including the famous European-subject falangcai double-vase in the Eisei Bunko Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Toji taikei [World Ceramics. Qing Official Kilns], vol. 46, Tokyo, 1973, pl. 23. Compare also the famille-rose 'boys' vase and cover of the same form, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 26. Only one other Qianlong mark and period conjoined vase with a monochrome glaze is known, also with the same Ru-type glaze, acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1879 (acc.no. 79.2.952) (fig. 1). 

Double Vase, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong mark and period (1736–95). Porcelain with a clair-de-lune glaze, H. 7 1/8 in. (181.1 cm); W. 6 in. (15.2 cm).Purchase by subscription, 1879, acc.no. 79.2.952. © 2000–2020 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.