A FINE GUAN-TYPE CENSER SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

the compressed globular body flanked by a pair of plain upright loop handles on the shoulder, rising to a waisted neck and an everted mouthrim, the lower part of the body decorated with a row of bosses covered overall in an even greyish-green glaze with a fine network of crackles, all raised on three short pointed unglazed feet dressed in dark brown, the slightly concave centre of the base inscribed with a six-character underglaze-blue reign mark

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 872.

The overall condition is very good. The actual colour is a tinge less green, but a touch more blue than the catalogue illustration.
"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."

Although the crackled glaze and brown dressing of the white porcelain body, visible at the rim, bosses and feet, are aimed at evoking Song dynasty prototypes, this shape, which is often referred to as yu lou ('fish basket'), does not have any Song dynasty models, and appears to have been developed in the Yongzheng reign.

Two censers of this form with a crackled guan-type glaze and of Qianlong mark and period are in the Zande Lou Collection, formed by J.M. Hu, and were included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 31; two others from the J.M. Hu collection, of different sizes, were sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lots 60 and 61. Another crackle-glazed Qianlong censer of this form, described as imitating 'Ru' ware and called hua nang (flower purse), is illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, fig. 456, with a line drawing of the form, p. 265, fig. 452: 4, where the author states, p. 267, that in the Yongzheng period this shape often had a ring foot, that in the Qianlong period it was also made with sky-blue glaze, and that copies of the Republican period have a thick body and glaze and are comparatively coarse.

A censer of this form of Yongzheng mark and period with a teadust-brown glaze is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 2, pl. 13.