Lot 116. A lemon-yellow glazed dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 GBP (51,084 - 76,626 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

well potted, with shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, the interior and exterior applied overall with a vibrant lemon-yellow glaze stopping neatly at the foot, the white base inscribed in underglaze-blue with a six-character reign mark within a double circle; 21 cm, 8¼ in.

Provenance: Christie’s Hong Kong, 12th January 1989, lot 805

Note: Deceptively simple in form and colour, monochrome yellow dishes of this type represent one of the most technically challenging porcelains to be produced. They required absolute precision in potting, glazing and firing as the smallest imperfection resulted in the destruction of the piece. Amongst all the different monochrome glazes, yellow is the only colour that has direct Imperial association. Although imperial yellow-glazed wares had been produced from the early Ming dynasty, they were used exclusively for ritual ceremonies: thus the lemon-yellow vessels provided the court with an alternative for daily use. The yellow glaze was derived from an antimoniate oxide and the lemon-yellow glaze was a Yongzheng innovation achieved when the antimoniate of iron was combined with tin oxide resulting in an opaque yellow glaze of vibrant hue.

Yellow-glazed dishes of this large size are rare; see two smaller examples from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1989, pls 543-4; a pair from the Paul and Helen Bernat collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 60; another pair from the Goldschmidt collection, later in the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics VI: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 29, and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 13th November 1990, lot 67; and a further pair from the collection of J.M. Hu, sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1995, lot 429. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art Londres, 11 mai 2016, 10:00 AM