The present vase is among a group of archaistic vessels that were produced in the Qianlong period. An example of its Song dynasty guanyao prototype was loaned by the Chinese Government to the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, 1935/36, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 827. Another Song example with a crackled guan glaze is illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12, Shogakukan, 1977, p. 77, pl. 67.

Qianlong vases of this form are published: the first, a pair of vases with a Ru-type glaze in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of Mr and Mrs J M Hu, Shanghai, 1989, p. 109, no. 72; and a single vase with a pale greenish-blue glaze was included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 102. A robin's-egg-glaze vase of this same shape was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 May 2005, lot 674.