Lot 107.  A blue and white 'floral' handled wine cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Lenght 8.8 cm, Lot sold 95,250 USD (Estimate 50,000 - 70,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2024

the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle, wood stand, Japanese wood box (4)

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co., London, 1920s.

Japanese Private Collection.

Note: This exquisite cup with its crisp butterfly handles and tiers of lingzhi and floral blooms, showcases the fine reproduction of classic early Ming porcelain at the Qing imperial kiln during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor. For the prototype of this design, see a Xuande mark and period cup recovered from the waste heaps of the imperial kiln factory in Jingdezhen, and included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 47.

Compare a closely related Yongzheng mark and period blue and white handled cup in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Chen Runmin, Gugong bowuyuan cang Qing Yongzheng qinghua ciqi / The Palace Museum’s Collection of Blue and White Porcelain from Yongzheng Period of Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2017, pl.31; another illustrated in Mayuyama. Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 1063. See also a yellow-ground example from the Barbara and Lester Levy Collection, sold in these rooms, 19th September 2023, lot 515.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art, New York, 19 March 2024