Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 10.
A fine doucai 'floral medallion' winecup, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)
Lot 2686. A fine doucai 'floral medallion' winecup, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 7.3 cm, 2 7/8 in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,820,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's 2010.
supported on a short foot rising to rounded sides and flaring slightly at the rim, painted in brilliant translucent enamels on the exterior with four medallions comprising three small aster florets in iron-red, pale yellow and lilac connected by small leaves, each medallion framed by decorative lotus scroll brackets, the countersunk base with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue.
A Private English Collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25th April 2004, lot 207.
Note: A similar Yongzheng cup, sold in these rooms, 29th October 1991, lot 212, is now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Ye Peilang, Beauty of Ceramics: Gems of Doucai, vol.6, Taipei, 1993, pl. 102; together with another cup of this design in the Capital Museum, Beijing, ibid., pl. 96 right. Compare also a pair of cups of this design, from the collection of Edward T. Chow, sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 132.
The design on this cup is based on a Chenghua prototype, see a doucai bowl excavated from the waste heaps of the Ming Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, included in the exhibition A Legacy of Chenghua, the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. C119.