Lot 435. A Famille-Verte cup, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Height 4 3/8 in., 11 cm. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 USD. Lot sold 23,750 USD. Photo Sotheby's

of deep U-shape, the exterior decorated with a scene from Wang Shifu's Xixiang Ji (Romance of the Western Chamber), depicting the lovers Cui Yingying and Lin Sheng observed by Hong Niang in a terrace garden setting. 

Note: A cup of this form also painted with a figural scene is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 8, Musée Guimet, 1981, no. 139; another of slightly smaller size in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai, 1998, p. 207, no. 134.

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