Lot 84.  An exceptionally rare and large doucai 'phoenix and lotus' dish, Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 50.4cm (19 7/8in) diam. Estimate £25,000 - 35,000. Sold for £ 75,062 (€ 87,645). Photo: Bonhams.

The large dish potted with wide flaring sides, meticulously painted on the interior in brilliant enamels with a central medallion formed by a pair of confronted phoenix with their wings outstretched and tails fanned open, enclosed within a foliate scroll bearing four stylised blossoming lotus heads enamelled in aubergine, green, yellow and iron-red, the cavetto decorated with the Eight Buddhist Emblems bajixiang, tied with fluttering ribbons amidst colourful wispy clouds, the everted rim with eight further symbols on a rolling-wave ground, the reverse with an elaborate lotus meander.

Provenance: a distinguished Middle Eastern private collection.

Note: The massive doucai charger was meant to impress and display the technical virtuosity and abilities of the Imperial kilns in successfully firing a porcelain vessel of such impressive size.

In form and design the present dish follows directly from the Yongzheng period. Compare with a very similar doucai dish, Yongzheng mark and period, in the Qing Court Collection, similarly decorated but of smaller size (45.5cm diam.), illustrated in The Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 2007, no.231.

Only a small number of similar doucai dishes of such scale, Qianlong seal mark and period, would appear to be recorded: the first, in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pp.300-301; a second example included in the exhibition Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty: Treasures from the Shenyang Palace Museum, China, Singapore, 1989, illustrated as the frontispiece of the catalogue; a third example was sold at Christie's London, 8 December 1986, lot 436; and a fourth example was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 346 and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 April 2001, lot 599, and is illustrated in Sotheby's Hong Kong: Twenty Years, Hong Kong, 1993, no.240.