Lot 3796. An imperial transparent blue glass vase, fang gu, Qianlong incised four-character mark within a square and of the period (1736-1795); 9 7/8 in. (25 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 450,000 - HKD 600,000. Price Realized HKD 524,000. © Christie's Images Ltd. 2011

The vase of square section, with a flared neck with an upturned rim, rising from a splayed base and stepped bulbous waist, the translucent metal of sapphire blue tone, box.

Note: A near identical example is in the Palace Museum Beijing, is illustrated by Zhang Rong (ed.), Luster of Autumn Water, Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Forbidden City Publishing House, 2005, no. 33, where the authors explain the form, inspired from bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, was shaped by molten glass blown into a mould. A second Qianlong-marked glass vase of this shape, but of deeper blue tone and with a heavily crizzled surface is in the Andrew K.F. Lee Collection, and is illustrated in Elegance and Radiance, The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, no. 46.

A smaller Yongzheng-marked blue glass example from the Charlotte and John Weber Collection was included in the exhibition, Clear as Crystal, Red as Flame, China Institute, New York, 1990, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 17, where a red glass Yongzheng-marked fanggu from the same collection is illustrated as no. 16 and is also on the cover.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1 June 2011, Convention Hall