A celadon-glazed double-gourd vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 粉青釉葫蘆瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款

This vase is remarkable for its luminous celadon glaze, the purity of which accentuates the graceful curves of its profile. A pair of vases of this type in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1992, pl. 98; one, from the Zande Lou collection, was included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 42; a slightly smaller vase of this type, in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 864.

Vases of this form are also known with their matching covers, such as a vase in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 69; another from the Jingguantang collection, included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 212, and sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 723.