Lot 221. A fine and rare doucai 'immortals' dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735), 21.2 cm, 8 5/6  in. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 GBP. Unsold. Photo: Sotheby's. 

the shallow rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to an everted rim, the interior painted with a roundel depicting immortals descending on iron-red clouds to a pavilion resting on rolling waves and surrounded by billowing clouds and two flying cranes, the reverse painted with numerous bats flying amongst waves and rockwork, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle

Provenance: Christie's New York, 23rd March 2012, lot 2014 (one of a pair).

Note: Doucai dishes of this design are unusual although a closely related example in the Tianjin Museum, Tianjin, is illustrated in Tianjin shi yizhu bowuguan cang ci [Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal Museum], Hong Kong, 1993, pls 159 and 160; another from the Gulland bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is published in W.B. Honey, Chinese Porcelain, London, 1927, pl. 86a; a third is included in Sekai tōji zenshū/ Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, pl. 191; and a fourth dish in the Städtisches Völkermuseum, Frankurt, is illustrated in R. Schmidt, Chinesisches Keramik, Frankfurt am Main, 1923, pl. 22e. Another pair of dishes of this design was sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1997, lot 359.

Dish, porcelain with the Three Star Gods and Queen Mother of the West painted in underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome enamels in doucai style, China, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Diameter: 21 cm. Given by Mrs. Julia C. Gulland, 695-1907 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Londres, 10 mai 2017, 02:00 PM