A RU-TYPE GU-SHAPED VASE SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

well potted and modelled after the archaic bronze gu wine vessel, the tall slender body with a wide, flaring neck rising from a short middle section and a bell-shaped mock foot, the lower sections decorated with vertical flanges, covered overall in a thick, opaque, densely crackled greyish-blue glaze, the foot dressed in a brown slip,  the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1792.

The overall condition is very good with only a shallow 1 cm flake to the foot. The actual colour is quite close to 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."

Vases of this form come in a variety of related glaze tones, some described as 'guan', sometimes showing a brown-dressed foot rim to suggest the dark body of Song dynasty (AD 960-1279) guan ware, others as clair-de-lune, while the somewhat opaque, crackled greenish glaze of the present piece is more immediately reminiscent of Song 'Ru' ware.

A similar vase in the Tokyo National Museum is published in Tōkyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan zuhan mokuroku: Chūgoku tōji hen / Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1988-90, vol. II, no. 713; one with a guan-type glaze in the Palace Museum, Beijing, in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. II, pl. 244. A vase of this form from the Eli Lilly collection was included in the exhibition Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1983, catalogue p. 341, fig. 24; and a similar vase without flanges is in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. II, pl. 276. A very similar piece from the collection of J.M. Hu was sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 63; and a similar pair of beakers, included in the exhibition Qing Mark and Period Monochromes and Enamelled Wares, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1981, cat. no. 4, was sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 688.

The shape, which ultimately is based on an archaic bronze ritual vessel shape known as gu, was similarly reproduced with a guan-type glaze already in the Chenghua period (AD 1465-87); see A Legacy of Chenghua: Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua Reign Excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. C 37.