Lot 670. A café-au-lait ground famille verte dish; Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 USD. Lot sold 6,250 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.  

well painted to the center, with an aubergine-enameled slender arching prunus tree emerging from rockwork, issuing blooms of varied green tones, the rim with four delicate floral sprays alternating with fluttering butterflies, all against a light brown ground, the underside with two leafy bamboo stalks, the base painted in underglaze blue with a hare within two concentric rings and  with a wheel-engraved inventory mark N=162 I. Diameter 8 1/8  in., 20.6 cm

Provenance: Collection of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland (1670 - 1733).. 

Note: The inventory marks of the famous Dresden Porcelain Collection are among the earliest in the West. The incised mark on the present dish is from the first inventory, Inventarium über das Palais zu Alt-Dresden Anno 1721. The dish is number 162 with the capital I signifying Grün Chinesisch Porcelain for famille-verte.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art New York, 15 Mar 2017