A fine blue and white ewer and cover seal mark and period of Qianlong

finely potted in archaistic he form, the compressed globular body attached to the gently curved neck, set with an upright spout tapering to the tip, with a 'C'-shaped handle, supported on four cylindrical legs, the sides painted in vivid underglaze-blue with the bajixiang ('Eight Buddhist Emblems') amidst luxuriant lotus flowers, the domed cover surmounted by a raised loop knop and similarly decorated as the rest of the vessel, with continous lingzhi scroll, the underside of the vessel inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze-blue

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 27th April 2003, lot 227.

The covered he form is derived from a Zhou, rather than a Shang dynasty archaic bronze prototype.  Julian Thompson notes in Chinese Porcelain: The S.C. Ko Tianmianlu Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, that these vessels were produced in the Qing dynasty to imitate the Zhou bronze prototype, due to the imperial court's predilection for ancient objects.  Excavations show that the he was used as a vessel for diluting wine, although such Qing imitations were most likely used for decorative, rather than practical purposes. 

An example of a covered he of this design with a Qianlong seal mark is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum, Blue and White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Book II, Taipei, 1968, pl. 21a-21d; another from the Tianjin Art Museum, was included in the exhibition, Imperial China. The Living Past, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1992, cat. no. 94; and a third from Norbulingka, Lhasa, Tibet, was included in the exhibition Gems of China's Cultural Relics, Palace Musuem, Beijing, 1992, cat. no. 46.