A GOOD 'GE' TYPE QUATRELOBED VASE MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

constructed of four slender bottle vases, ganlanping form, all covered in a rich Ge-type crackled glaze, each with a short flared rim and on a brown dressed footrim

From a German private collection.

S.Marchant & Son.

S. Marchant & Son, Recent Acquisitions, London, 2005, cat. no. 46, p. 78.

The vase is in good overall condition with the exception of a circa 1cm hairline glaze line to the base, and a tiny glaze firing imprefection and associated minute glaze line at the rim. It should be noted that the glaze is of a slightly warmer celadon-grey tone than the catalogue illustration would suggest.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

It is rare to find Qianlong vases of this quatre-lobed form, although a similar blue-and-white vase decorated with flowers, in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, Ch'ing Official and Popular Wares, Taipei, 1991, p. 151. Vases of this type closely follow the Yongzheng prototype. See a Yongzheng mark and period Ru-type vase, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Qing Monochrome Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1981, cat.no. 77; a celadon-glazed vase from the J.M. Hu collection sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 40; and a Guan-type vase from the James W. and Marilyn Alsdorf collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 23rd March 1993, lot 735, and again, 2nd November 1999, lot 526.

The fashion for multi-spouted vases reached its peak during Qianlong's reign. For example see a pale-blue glazed quadruple vase, each constituent vase of ganlanping form, with a Qianlong reign mark and of the period, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 179; a six-mouthed conjoined teadust-glazed Qianlong vase in the National Palace Museum included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, pl. 96; and another similar six-mouthed vase covered with a clair-de-lune glaze, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th November 1986, and illustrated in The S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 149.