Lot 3585. A fine and  rare doucai washer, Yongzheng period (1723-1735); 2 3/4 in. (6.9 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price Realized HKD 560,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Finely potted in imitation of its Ming prototype with gentle rounded sides rising from a recessed base, painted in underglaze-blue and enamelled on the exterior with lotus sprays, each supporting a bowl containing an auspicious emblem, all between blue line borders, the countersunk base with an apocryphal six-character Chenghua mark within a double square.

Provenance: Sir Harry and Lady Garner.

Exhibited: The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1951, no. 97. 

Note: The Ming prototypes of the present doucai vessel, bearing Chenghua reign marks, are in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Ware, Taipei, 2003, p. 160-61, no. 157-60, where these are catalogued as 'washers'.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale,  Hong Kong, 1 June 2011