A fine and rare Chenghua-style 'chicken' cup, China, underglaze blue six-character mark Chenghua, Kangxi period. Photo Nagel Auktionen

Finely potted in imitation of its Ming prototype with gently flared sides, well painted on the exterior in soft translucent enamels, with two groups of a hen and a cockerel, together with their chicks on a grassy terrace divided by clusters of peony and bamboo issuing from rockwork ground, below a double underglaze-blue line at the rim, the recessed base with a transparent glaze and underglaze blue six-character mark Chenghua - Tiny filled chip to mouth rim with a short related hairline crack. D. 8,3 cm. Estimate 15 000-18 000 €

Property from an European private collection - Chicken' cups from the reign of Emperor Chenghua (1465-1487) were highly treasured by both Ming and Qing courts for its subtle execution of soft enamel colours, so much so that the design was copied from the late Ming period onwards. In essence, 'chicken' cups of the early Qing period closely adhered their shape, style and design to the original Chenghua prototype, with only minor differences.

Kangxi period 'chicken' cups that are nearly identical to the Chenghua ones, include one from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 138; one in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated together with the Chenghua original, Catalogue, section 5, no. A749, pl. XIV; and another from the Ma Foundation, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 159, fig. 2, together with Chenghua and Yongzheng versions of the cup.

Nagel Auktionen. Asian Art, 2013/05/10. http://www.auction.de