Lot 3633. A fine pair of doucai ‘Double Lotus’ dishes, Marks and Period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 11.7cm., 4 5/8  in. Estimate 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 HKD. Lot sold  2,320,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby’s

each delicately potted with shallow rounded sides supported on a short foot, the interior painted with a central medallion enclosing a double-lotus bloom encircled by radiating ruyi-shaped strapwork, all enclosed within double-line borders repeated at the rim, the exterior similarly decorated with detached double-lotus sprays alternating with elaborate tied sprays of foliage, inscribed to the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 14th November 1983, lot 156

Note: This pair of dishes is inspired by a design of interlocking ruyi-head dishes from the Chenghua period, including one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Important Ming Porcelains. Chenghua, Hongzhi and Zhengde Ware, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 60; and another, from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold in these rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 255. The potters of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen skilfully adapted this design to suit contemporary taste by including the twin-lotus. This auspicious motif echoes a hanging scroll, A Collection of Auspicious Signs, by the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), who presented it to the Yongzheng Emperor following his enthronement, when twin-lotuses and seeds were said to have appeared in various parts of the empire as a propitiatory sign of his right to rule.

Dishes decorated with this design are more commonly known in larger size; see one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in the Museum’s Illustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Dynasty Porcelain. K’ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 92; another included in the exhibition Ch’ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, The Art Gallery, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1974, cat. no. 86; and a third dish illustrated in Chinese Ceramics. Qing Dynasty, vol. 4, The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 141. See also a similar pair in the Umezawa Kinenkan Museum,  illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in Ch’ing Dynasty, Autumn Exhibition, 1972, cat. no. 29.

Sotheby’s. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 oct. 2014