Lot 131. The Leshantang Collection. A fine blue and white 'mandarin duck and lotus' dish, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 17.3 cm. Lot Sold 952,500 HKD (Estimate 600,000 - 800,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2024

finely potted with shallow rounded sides rising from a countersunk base enclosed by an unglazed footring, the interior painted with a pair of mandarin ducks swimming in a pond amongst large lotus blooms with broad furled leaves and tall aquatic grasses, the exterior with a matching frieze of four ducks swimming across gently rippled water between sprays of lotus, below a band enclosing six dragons and pearls at the rim, the decoration executed in fine outline filled with three graded tones of wash, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Collection of TY Chao (1912-99), Hong Kong.
TY Chao Family Trust property.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1987, lot 268.

Literature: The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 31 (one of a pair), p. 93 (top and bottom right).

Exhibited: Ch'ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Art Gallery, Insitute of Chinese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1973, cat. no. 60.
Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the TY Chao Family Foundation , Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1978, cat. no. 90.
Chinese Art from the Ching Wan Society Collections , Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 50.