A BLUE AND WHITE ‘MING-STYLE’ BOTTLE VASE, QIANLONG MARK AND PERIOD
China, 1736-1795. Well potted, the compressed globular body rising from a short splayed foot, sweeping up to a tall waisted neck flaring gently at the rim. The body deftly painted in deep shades of cobalt blue with simulated ‘heaping and piling’ with a wide band of composite floral scroll above stylized lappets, all below a band of ruyi-heads and a further floral band to the shoulder, divided by four raised fillets. The recessed base with an underglaze blue six-character seal mark da Qing Qianlong nianzhi and of the period.


Provenance
: Dorothy Joan (née Murphy) (1918-1989) and Roland Milton (1917-1990), United Kingdom, who were gifted the vase on their wedding in May 1945, and thence by descent.

Condition
: Excellent condition with only minor surface wear. The interior with a firing flaw in form of a small glaze recess and two short, horizontal hairlines, not visible from outside. A microscopic glaze flake to the rim.

Weight: 3,319 g
Dimensions: Height 37.1 cm

The neck similarly decorated with a band of overlapping plantain leaves above a band of key-fret and below a collar of crashing and swirling waves with a band of pendent trefoils. The foot with a foliate scroll border, finely applied.


Literature comparison:

Three vases of this pattern are illustrated by John Ayers and Regina Krahl, in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, volume III, London, 1986, pages 1105, no. 2564, where they have been fitted with metal mounts to suit Ottoman use. Compare a further example illustrated in Qingdai Ciqi Shangjian (Appreciation of Qing Dynasty Porcelain), Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 165, and another in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji (The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics), part 2, volume 15, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 2.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Near-identical
Auction: Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 December 2021, lot 2919
Price: HKD 2,125,000 or approx.
EUR 335,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine blue and white ‘Ming style’ bottle vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period
Expert remark: Compare the near-identical form, also showing four characteristic fillets separating the various bands of decoration, the closely related painting, the similar reign mark, and the almost identical size (37.5 cm). Note that this vase is also in excellent condition, but lacks the firing flaws found inside the neck of the present lot.




乾隆款及年代青花長頸瓶

中國，1736-1795 年。瓶口外撇，長頸，鼓腹，圈足外撇。外壁青花仿明代钴料特質，分別描繪海水紋、芭蕉葉紋、如意紋、雷紋以及纏枝蓮紋。圈足内青花六字篆書款“大清乾隆年製”。


來源：
英國Dorothy Joan（1918-1989 年，娘家姓Murphy）和Roland Milton（1917-1990 年）在 1945 年 5 月的婚禮上收到了這個花瓶，之後在家族傳承。

品相：
狀況良好，僅有輕微表面磨損。內部有一個小釉槽形式的燒製缺陷和兩條短的水平冲線，從外面看不到。邊緣有微小的釉面開片。

重量：3,319 克
尺寸：高 37.1 厘米


文獻比較:

三件長頸瓶，見 John Ayers and Regina Krahl，《Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum》，伊斯坦堡，卷III，倫敦，1986年，頁1105，編號2564，在奧圖曼帝國時期配了金屬支架。比較一件長頸瓶，見《Qingdai Ciqi Shangjian (Appreciation of Qing Dynasty Porcelain)》，香港，1994年，頁165，以及另一件長頸瓶收藏於上海博物館，見《Zhongguo Taoci Quanji (The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics)》，第二部分，卷15，上海，2000年，圖2。


拍賣比較：

形制：幾乎相同
拍賣：香港佳士得，2021年12月3日，lot 2019年
價錢：HKD 2,125,000（相當今日
EUR 335,000
）
描述：清乾隆青花纏枝蓮紋賞瓶
專家註釋：比較幾乎相同的外形，還展示了分隔不同裝飾帶的四個特徵圓角、非常相近的繪畫、相似的年代款，以及幾乎相同的尺寸（37.5 厘米）。請注意此瓶也是狀況極佳，但缺少燒製缺陷。