A CELADON-GLAZED JAR AND COVER QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD |

finely potted with the ovoid body rising from a recessed base to a short neck, molded on each side below the shoulders with a reversed C-shaped mock handle, the cover of a shallow domed form, covered overall with a smooth sea-green glaze, thinning to a lighter tone at the rim and handles, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue (2)

The jar is in good condition. The cover has a restored star crack to one side of the rim, with one length of the crack extending approx. 3.5-cm across the domed top.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This vessel form, with its superbly harmonious profile, integrating its cover, and its unusual C-shaped motifs on the sides appears to have originated during the Kangxi reign. The shape is often called riyueguan ('sun-and-moon jar'), its cover supposedly representing the sun and the crescents at its sides the moon, but no comparable iconography appears to be known from other works of art. A rare Kangxi version of this design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is included in the exhibition Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Museum Palace, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 27.

A similar jar from the Meiyintang Collection was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 14; and another from the T.Y. Chao Collection was sold in the same rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 283; one without a cover in the Hong Kong Museum of Art was included in the museum's exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette. Qing Ceramics from the Collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984-5, cat. no. 79; and a Daoguang variant, lacking the raised C-shaped motifs, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], vol. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 278.