QIANLONG SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

For the Song prototype of this vase with similar 'apricot leaf' panels and an inscription by the Emperor Qianlong on the base see Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum - Southern Sung Kuan Ware, I (Part I), Hong Kong, 1962, pls. 6, 6a-6b.

This is an unusually large version of Qianlong-marked vases of this type. A smaller (24.4cm. high) example from the collection of H. Garner in the British Museum is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 235.