QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Double-gourd vases are also known as dajiping 'vase of good fortune', as the double gourd, or bottle gourd, symbolises fertility and good fortune. It is very rare to find double-gourd vases with original covers. A similar vase and cover was included in the exhibition Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1992, p. 345, no. 212. Another double-gourd vase with its original small cover from the Jingguantang Collection was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 571, and again 28 October 2002, lot 723. Examples without covers include one from the Zande Lou collection, illustrated in Qing Imperial Monochromes: The Zande Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 118, no. 42; one included in the Exhibition of Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong Reigns, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995, no. 69; and one illustrated in Chinese Porcelain: The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 106. See, also, the vase sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3308; and another from the Gordon Collection sold at Christie's New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1135.

The shape and colour of the glaze of the present vase and related pieces appear to be a Qing interpretation of earlier Longquan celadon double-gourd vases from the Song dynasty, such as the example illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 166, no. 484.