YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

The shape of the current vase is inspired by mallet-form vases from the Song dynasty, such as a Ding example in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by S. Pierson and S.F.M. McCausland, Song Ceramics: Objects of Admiration, London, 2003, pp. 20-21, no. 1; and a Guan example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, p. 66, pl. 24.

A very similar Yongzheng-marked example was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3201. Further examples include one illustrated by Bo Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p. 75, no. 194, later sold at Sotheby's Paris, 12 June 2008, lot 97; one sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 26 November 1980, lot 368; and one sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 20 November 1985, lot 201. A similar Yongzheng example with a lipped rim from the Meiyintang Collection was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 1. For a Yongzheng hu-shaped example with animal masks, see the example sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2007, lot 718.