Lot 2. A fine and rare small white-glazed cut-through 'lotus' cup, Qing dynasty, 18th century, Yuyan Shuwu mark. Diameter 7 cm, 2¾ in. Estimate: 25,000 - 35,000 GBP. Lot sold 32,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.

delicately potted with flawless translucent sides rising from the countersunk base to a subtly everted rim, decorated to the body with pierced lotus blossoms, covered overall with a transparent glaze revealing the white body and the cut-out design, the base with a four-character hall mark reading yuyan shuwu within a double-square in underglaze blue.

Note: This elegant cup belongs to a select group of wares inscribed with the mark yuyan shuwu (Library of Washing Inkstone), which was used during the Yongzheng (r. 1723-1735) and Qianlong (r. 1736-1795) reigns. A closely related cup, from the collection of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, was sold at Christie’s New York, 14th/15th September 2017, lot 1225. See also a cup of this type, but with a flared rim and with a Qianlong mark and of the period, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. CIV, fig, 1.

Sotheby's. Imperial Porcelain - A Private Collection, London, 6 November 2019