Lot 439. A rare yellow-glazed molded 'mallow-flower' wine cup, Yongzheng mark and period. Diameter 2 5/8 in., 6.5 cm. Estimation 200,000 — 300,000 USD. Unsold. Photo Sotheby's.

delicately potted with gently rounded sides, finely molded with a band of lotus lappets rising to swirling and overlapping broad mallow-flower petals forming the foliate rim, applied overall with an opaque lemon-yellow glaze, six-character mark within a double circle in underglaze blue. 

It is extremely rare to find a yellow-enameled cup of this form. Two closely related pairs were sold in our London rooms, 9th November 2011, lot 61; and another, in our New York rooms, 18th September 1996, lot 221.

For slightly larger Yongzheng wine cups of this form covered in a white glaze, see one, but with the reign mark within a double rectangle, included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 58; and two pairs of anhua-decorated wine cups, one pair sold twice in our London rooms, 6th July 1971, lot 198, and 9th June 1987, lot 287, and the second pair sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th May 1988, lot 250.

For larger Yongzheng bowls of this form and glaze, see a pair from the E.T Hall collection, sold at Christie's London, 7th June 2004, lot 277, and a white-glazed bowl illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan cang: Qingdai yuyao ciqi, vol. II, Beijing, 2005, p. 220, no. 96.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com