Lot 1746. A rare white-glazed chrysanthemum dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 7 in. (17.6 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. Price realised USD 158,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011. 

The shallow rounded sides molded as chrysanthemum petals surrounding a plain center on the interior and rising from the correspondingly lobed shallow ring foot, covered inside and out with a milk-white glaze.

Provenance: Bluett, London.

Note: Chrysanthemum-shaped dishes appear in complete sets of twelve colors, with the most notable set, all with Yongzheng marks, being in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 257. Six are illustrated by Feng Xianming, Wenwu, 1984, p. 37, no. 10, where the author notes that a decree issued in the eleventh year of Yongzheng (1733) instructed Nian Xiyao, Minister of the Imperial Household, to send "the twelve colors of chrysanthemum dishes, one of each color, for the inspection of the permanent guardian of the treasury and chief eunuch Samuha". The decree further mentions "forty pieces to be fired of every type according to the samples". As recorded by A.W. Hummel in Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, vol. I, pp. 588-590, Nian Xiyao was appointed as a minister of the Imperial Household in 1726, and between 1726-1735 he was in charge of the manufacture of porcelain as well as assuming the post of superintendant of customs at Huaian in Jiangsu province.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part I and Part II Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 24 March 2011