A FINE BLUE AND WHITE 'FLORAL' HU VASE QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD |

of archaistic form, well-painted in brilliant tones of underglaze blue with simulated 'heaping and piling', the ovoid body encircled by two bands, the upper with continuous lotus scroll, the lower with a composite floral meander, all between slightly raised double-line borders, the shoulder set with animal mask and mock-ring handles, below the waisted flared neck decorated with ruyi-bordered stiff upright plantain leaves and a narrow wave band around the rim, the bottom register with a further wave band above a band of pendent petal panels encircling the high flared foot, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue

Collection of John Milton Bonham (1835-1897).

The vase is in overall good condition. A few lightly abraded areas to the rim and to a 2 cm horizontal patch below central raised rib. An old label adhered to the shoulder, and three more adhered to the base. Please note that this lot includes a stand, frame or other component made from a type of Chinese hardwood, which, if exported, will require a CITES permit to leave the United States.
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.

This vase belongs to a group of blue and white wares discussed in Julian Thompson, ‘Decorative Motifs on Blue and White in the S.C. Ko Collection’, Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, vol. 2, p. 31, with decoration adapted from 15th century designs but used on a Chinese bronze shape ‘alien to the fifteenth century’. Vases of this form were first produced at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen during the Yongzheng reign, painted in underglaze blue or covered in monochrome glazes. A Yongzheng blue and white example, from the Keralakis Family Collection was included in the exhibition Chinese Imperial and Export Porcelain. Cloisonné and Enamel Wares, S. Marchant and Son, London, 2005, pl. 37. Compare a Qianlong vase of this form and design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue and White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 2 and another in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 235. Vases of this type have sold at auction, including in our London rooms, 17th November 1970, lot 108; our Hong Kong rooms, 12th-13th May 1976, lot 131; and in these rooms, 23rd-24th May 1974, lot 421. A pair of vases first sold in these rooms, 27th November 1990, lot 160, and later in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2009, lot 1679.

Vases of this type remained popular and continued to be made throughout the Qing period; for example see a Daoguang mark and period vase illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jiandong [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 510.