Lot 3061. A famille-rose saucer dish, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 18.5cm., 7 1/4 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot Sold 920,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

delicately potted with shallow rounded sides resting on a short foot, finely painted in brilliant translucent enamels in 'boneless style' with two large peony blooms, one bright pink, and the other soft purple, the blooms borne on fleshy and knotty stems with turquoise and green leaves, growing beside pierced rockwork, daisies and a clump of lingzhi fungus, inscribed on the base with the six-character within double circles.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 15th May 1990, lot 221.

Note: A pair of Yongzheng dishes of this size and design from the Blennerhassett Collection was sold in our London rooms, 16th July 1974, lot 175.

This bowl is a fine example of the new confidence among painters during the reign of Yongzheng to handle areas of colour wihout applying a formal border as a frame. This technique is known as 'boneless style', as there virtually is no skeleton to the design. The only lines on the entire composition are the black lines used to define the veins on the leaves, and the wings of the butterfly. This technique was not widely used, most likely because it was too complicated to use on a mass production scale. It represented a great challenge to the artists, where unskilled painters would require outlines to complete their sections of decoration, and if not handled well, would give the impression that the piece was unfinished.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2011