The biggest money was reserved for the final lot of the day: an underglaze copper red pear- shaped vase, right, decorated with entwined peony flowers and leaves, Yuan dynasty.
Although the copper red colour was not that strong and it had some restoration to the neck and a crack to the foot, London dealer Richard Marchant outbid the Hong Kong trade and secured the vase at £32,000.
A second noteworthy entry was a sleeper: a large celadon glazed bottle vase consigned from a private UK source. The vase was carved to the exterior with lotus petal motifs and had an underglaze blue Qianlong (1736-95) seal mark to the base.
Catalogued as 19th century, the interest shown by the Hong Kong and New York trade suggested it was a Qianlong mark and period example and it sold at £19,000 on the telephone.
Top heavy price for pear-shaped vase
Chinese sales at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) can always be relied on to produce some good prices during Asia week. While the morning works of art session in their Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale, November 8, was quiet, business picked up in the afternoon for the ceramics section.
