Lot 2808. A fine and exceptional famille rose 'peach' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark within double square and of the period (1723-1735); 8 1/16 in. (20.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 7,000,000 - HKD 9,000,000. Price realised HKD 13,900,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The dish is exquisitely enamelled on the exterior with two branches in various shades of sepia growing from above the foot, bearing three ripe peaches shaded from bright pink to green, and flowers in pastel pink, beside two bats in flight. The design continues over the rim onto the interior with three further bats hovering above five peaches amidst blossoms and leaves rendered in two tones of green. 

Provenance: The Alfred E. Hippisley Collection (1848-1939)
The Hippisley Collection of Chinese Porcelain; Anderson Galleries, New York, 30-31 January 1925, lot 193 (one of a pair)
Frank Caro, successor to C.T. Loo, New York, 1960s

Exhibited: San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas, 1984-2017
The present dish was originally one of a pair, the companion dish is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, collection number 1930.639.

Dish with Bats and Peaches, 1723-1735, China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Yongzheng mark and reign (1722-1735), porcelain with famille rose overglaze enamel decoration, Diameter: 20.6 cm (8 1/16 in.). Worcester R. Warner Collection 1930.639 © Cleveland Museum of Art

Note: The present dish belongs to a group decorated with a total of eight peaches growing flowering branches and accompanied by five bats, forming the auspicious wufu, from the Yongzheng period. Some of these dishes bear a six-character reign marks within double-squares as in the case of the present examples, on others the marks appear within double-circles.

Peach dishes appear in four differing sizes, the present dish is second largest in size among the group, and similar to the dish in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated by P. Lam in Qing Imperial Porcelain, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995, no. 62 (21 cm.); a dish in the British Museum Collection, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great Collections, vol. 5, Kodansha series, 1981, no. 226 (20.6 cm.); a dish from the John M. Crawford, Au Bak Ling and Robert Chang collections, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 October 2003, lot 665 (20.9 cm.); a dish from the Barbara Hutton collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 2915 (21 cm.); and a pair, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3319 (20.7 cm.). 

A famille rose enamelled Fruiting peach branches dish, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Yongzheng mark and reign (1722-1735), 8.1 in., 1936,0413.37 © The Trustees of the British Museum.

A magnificent famille rose 'peach' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark within a double square and of the period (1723-1735), from the John M. Crawford, Au Bak Ling and Robert Chang collections; 8 3/16 in. (20.9 cm.) diam. Sold for HKD 9,247,750 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 October 2003, lot 665. © Christie's Image Ltd 2003

An exceptional Imperial Famille Rose 'Peach' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark within double squares and of the period (1723-1735), from the Barbara Hutton collection;  8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) diam. Sold for HK$5,080,000 ($658,076) at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 2915. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

Cf. my post : An exceptional Imperial Famille Rose 'Peach' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark within double squares and of the period

A magnificent and fine pair of Imperial famille rose peach dishes, Yongzheng six-character marks within double squares and of the period (1723-1735); 8 1/8 in. (20.7 cm.) diam. Sold for HK$46,040,000 ($5,964,137) at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3319. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

For examples of this pattern in the largest size, see Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kodansha series, 1980, col. pl. 63 (50.5 cm.); and in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, the Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, 1999, p. 66, no. 56. It is interesting to note that the reign marks of the largest dishes (those over 50cm diam.) are written within double-circles, and not rectangles as with the cited smaller examples.