Lot Essay
Multi-spouted vases come in a variety of combinations, ranging from double vases to those with seven spouts or more, with the shapes of the vases varying considerably. The shape of the present vase is sometimes known as Guanyin ping, a name derived from the amphora often depicted held in the hands of Guanyin sculptural figures.
A nearly identical vase from the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, 1989, p. 324, pl. 5. For other six-spouted vases of identical shape but covered in monochrome glazes instead of in blue and white, see a Qianlong teadust-glazed vase in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1986, Catalogue, no. 96; another in teadust glaze, unmarked but dated to the Yongzheng or Qianlong period, in the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 10, no. 265; a blue-glazed example included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition, Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, catalogue no. 214; and a celadon-glazed vase with moulded decoration in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, no. 128.
Compare a very similar vase sold at Christies Hong Kong, 1 May 2000, lot 694.
Also another example sold at Sotheby's Paris, 13 June 2012, lot 69.
A nearly identical vase from the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, 1989, p. 324, pl. 5. For other six-spouted vases of identical shape but covered in monochrome glazes instead of in blue and white, see a Qianlong teadust-glazed vase in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1986, Catalogue, no. 96; another in teadust glaze, unmarked but dated to the Yongzheng or Qianlong period, in the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 10, no. 265; a blue-glazed example included in the Hong Kong Museum of Art exhibition, Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, catalogue no. 214; and a celadon-glazed vase with moulded decoration in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, no. 128.
Compare a very similar vase sold at Christies Hong Kong, 1 May 2000, lot 694.
Also another example sold at Sotheby's Paris, 13 June 2012, lot 69.