Lot 220. A finely painted massive blue and white 'Lotus pond' fish basin, Qing dynasty, Kangxi-Yongzheng period (1662-1735); 66.7cm., 26 1/4 in. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 GBP. Lot sold 110,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.

heavily potted, of deep U-shape form, the gently curving sides rising from a relatively narrow base to a waisted neck below a lipped rim, delicately painted with a continuous scene of a richly-decorated lotus pond, with a pair of flycatchers and three incised slip-decorated egrets wading amidst the partially submerged lotus blooms, curling leaves and water reeds, all below a narrow band of circles at the neck.

Note: This basin is notable for its impressive size and delicate pencilled design of a lotus pond. This motif originated in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), when it was often found together with ducks adorning large dishes. Its popularity continued into the Qing dynasty, and variations to the original design were developed to include birds and insects. A large basin of similar form and decorated with an egret hovering over a lotus pond, was sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 1999, lot 326; and another, but modelled with an everted rim, in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, is illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Nanjing Museum, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 50. See also a blue and white bowl painted with this motif published in Kangxi Porcelain Wares. From the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong 1998, pl. 41.

This design was adapted to the famille-verte, famille-rose, and doucai palettes during the Kangxi and Yongzheng period; for example see a Kangxi period famille-verte vase decorated with egrets, butterflies and insects amidst a lotus pond, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 81, together with a similarly decorated Yongzheng mark and period dish painted in doucai enamels, pl. 216; and a famille-rose vase with a Yongzheng mark and of the period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Li Zhiyan and Cheng Wen, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, Beijing, 1984, pl. 57.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. London, 14 mai 2014