Size: 30.6 cm.(H)
Inspired by an archaic bronze form, this piece has a hexagonal section body sitting on a shallow, slightly flared foot, with angular shoulders rising to a waisted neck and a slightly flared mouth, the neck decorated with opposing tubular-form arrow handles, the glaze of smooth blueish-grey tone, the foot rim unglazed, and decorated with a dark brown wash in imitation of early Song Guan stoneware, the base with an underglaze blue six-character Qianlong seal mark.
This piece is typical of Qing master craftsmen paying tribute to the earlier Ru, Ge and Guan wares of the Song Dynasty.
PROVENANCE:
A Japanese Private Collection, Christie'sHong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 3315, with stand, Japanese wood box.
A larger Yongzheng-marked Guan-type vase of this form in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, is illustrated in 《Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum》, vol. 37, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 204. Three other closely related vases were sold in Sotheby’s, 20 May 1981, lot 822, 26 October 2003, lot 50, and 9 October 2007, lot 1526.
Further examples: A Qianlong vase of this form but covered in sky-blue is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1956, pl. 46; another in a teadust glaze, was published in 《Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection》, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 965; and a moulded celadon-glazed vase, included in the exhibition 《Ethereal Elegance. Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing. The Huaihaitang Collection》, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, cat. no. 50.