Lot 1542. An unusual Qingbai carved bracket-lobed dish, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 12th-13th century, 7 5/8 in. (19.5 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 12,000 - USD 18,000. Price realised USD 15,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2016

The interior is carved in the center with a lotus stem surrounded by an immortal holding a scepter, a crane, and a tortoise, alternating with stylized clouds, below a foliate scroll border interrupted by the immortal's halo just below the everted, bracket-lobed rim. The dish is covered inside and out with a pale aqua-blue glaze pooling to a slightly darker tone on the slightly tapered ring foot, and the base is left unglazed, revealing the white body., box.

Note: A nearly identical qingbai dish, decorated with the same motif, in the Avery Brundage Collection, is illustrated by Stacey Pierson (ed.) in Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, pp. 84-5, no. 35. Pierson notes that qingbai ceramics depicting Daoist motifs are among the earliest examples of Daoist iconography in Chinese ceramics, which became popularized in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Another similar qingbai dish, also decorated with crane, cloud and tortoise, is illustrated by Wang Qingzheng, R. Scott and J. Chen, Serene Pleasure: The Jinglexuan Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Seattle Art Museum, 2001, p. 36, no. 9.

Saucer with lotus blossom and a figure of an immortal amid clouds, China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)-Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). Glazed qingbai porcelain with incised decoration on interior. H. 1 1/8 in x Diam. 7 5/8 in, H. 2.9 cm x Diam. 19.9 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B65P28. © 2017 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art part II, 17 - 18 March 2016, New York