Lot 2939. A fine and rare yellow-enamelled blue and white wine-cup, Yongzheng six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1723-1735). Estimate HKD 1,500,000 - HKD 2,000,000 (USD 200,000 - USD 260,000). Price Realised HKD 1,580,000 (USD 203,782). © Christie's Images Ltd 2011.

The exterior painted in underglaze blue with two tiers of overlapping flower petals on the moulded lobed sides, each containing alternating sprigs of lingzhi with various flowers including lotus and camellia, applied with a pair of fish handles just below the scalloped rim, the interior similarly decorated around a central flower head, all reserved on a rich lemon-yellow ground - 4 7/8 in. (12.3 cm.) wide, stand, Japanese wood box 

Provenance: Kochukyo Fukkosai acquired in the early 20th century
A prominent Japanese private collection

Notes: Three very similar yellow ground examples of this rare design have been sold at auction. The first, of comparable size to the present cup (12.2 cm. diam.) was sold Sotheby's London, 9 June 1992, lot 299A; the two others, smaller in size (7.7 and 8 cm. diam.), were sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 27 April 1993, lot 240; and 29 April 1997, lot 703. 

A smaller Yongzheng-marked blue and white example of this design is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, p. 354, no. 1063.