A PAIR OF CANTON ENAMEL HU-FORM VASES AND COVERS QIANLONG MARKS AND PERIOD |

each of flattened quatrefoil section with the pear-shaped body supported on a splayed foot and sweeping to a broad neck flanked with archaistic phoenix-form handles, finely painted in bright famille-rose enamels on a turquoise ground with a dense floral meander centered on a large lotus blossom issuing further leafy blooms, below a foliate band set between two spearhead borders in blue and yellow, further floral meanders around the neck and foot between ribbon-twist borders around the rim and base, the conforming cover similarly decorated and surmounted with a bud-form knop, the interior enameled turquoise, the base white-enameled with a six-character mark in blue within a double square (4)

Collection of the Hon. Mrs. Nellie Ionides (1883-1962).
Sotheby's London, 18th February 1964, lot 182.
Sotheby’s London, 8th November 1994, lot 355. 
The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York.

R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art II, New York, 1966, pl. 110.

Each vase and cover with minor expected craquelure and surface wear. One vase with restoration (including in-painting) to half of the rim, each handle, and a section of the foot, and spray has been applied to those areas plus the interior of the rim and a section of the bulbous body. The other vase sprayed at the interior rim and along the narrow sides (particularly around the handles, bulbous part of the body, and foot) with small areas of in-painting to the handles. One cover sprayed to half of the exterior and with minor in-painting to the knop and one lobe. The other cover partially sprayed and with minor in-painting to the knop.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Compare further Qianlong mark and period painted enamel vessels referencing archaic bronze forms, such as a hu-form vase decorated with floral roundels against white ground, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Enamel Ware in The Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, cat. no 145; and a pair of gu-form vases, decorated with foliage and leaves against a turquoise ground, sold at Christie’s Paris, 8th June 2010, lot 218.