A finely carved celadon-glazed 'bee-hive' waterpot mark and period of Kangxi

the gently inward curving side delicately carved with billowing ruyi clouds rising upwards to wispy ends and small cloud swirls, applied overall with an even pale green glaze, thinning on the raised surfaces to enhance the decoration, the countersunk base glazed white with the six-character mark in underglaze-blue  

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th May 1981, lot 814.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17th May 1988, lot 65.
Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 565.

The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 124.
The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 2.

Similar waterpots are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 147, pl. 130; in Taiwan, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. K'ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 58; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in W.B. Honey, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1927, pl. 7a, from the Gulland Bequest; and in the Percival David Foundation, London, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, 1989, col. pl. B, no. 583.

Compare a closely related Kangxi waterpot sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 609; and another sold in our London rooms, 17th November 1999, lot 772.