Lot 3657. A fine white glazed 'mallow' cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD. Lot sold 625,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

delicately modelled with deep rounded sides rising to a flared six-lobed rim resembling mallow petals, the exterior moulded and gently incised in the form of two registers of petals radiating from around the foot, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double-circle, wood stand; 9.1 cm, 3 5/8  in.

Notes: Cups of this elegant mallow shape, delicately incised on the exterior with gently curving petals, include one illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 747; another published in George J. Lee, Selected Far Eastern Art in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 1970, pl. 340; two pairs of cups sold at Christie’s New York, the first, from the collection of Paul and Helen Bernat, 2nd December 1993, lot 325, and the second, 3rd June 1993, lot 233; and a further pair included in Jan Wirgin, Chinese Ceramics from the Axel and Nora Lundgren Bequest, Stockholm, 1978, pl. 74. See also a slightly smaller cup of this type, but with the reign mark within a double-square, included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potters Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 58.

Cups of this form and glaze are also known decorated on the interior with dragons in the anhua technique, such as a pair of slightly smaller cups sold twice in our London rooms, 6th July 1971, lot 198, and 9th June 1987, lot 287. 

Sotheby's, Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 05 oct. 2016