A rare pair of doucai foliate dishes, Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue within double circles and of the period (
Lot 837. A rare pair of doucai foliate dishes, Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue within double circles and of the period (1723-1735); 6¼ in. (15.8 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. Price realised USD 62,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.
Each dish is delicately molded in the form of an open flower with six petals. The exterior is decorated with a branching, leafy stem of red Chinese lantern plant, bearing a flower, buds and iron-red 'lanterns' (husks), one shown open to expose the iron-red fruit within. The interior is decorated in iron-red with five bats (wufu) in flight.
Note: The same decoration on the exterior of this pair of dishes can be seen on a celadon-ground bowl in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by Lady David in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Enamelled Ware, London, 1973, pl. IV, no. 840 (erroneously numbered 839), and later sold at Christie's New York, 15-16 September 2011, lot 1508. The bowl had an apocryphal da ming nian zhi mark, but was dated to the 18th century. A bowl and cover, also with the decoration on a celadon ground, in the Qing Court collection, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 38 - Porcelain in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 152, has Kangxi marks, as did another bowl and cover, sold at Christie's New York, 18-19 March 2009, lot 563.
Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 – 19 September 2014, New York, Rockefeller Plaza