Lot 3125. A rare blue and white 'peach' dish, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 27.2 cm., 10 3/4 in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot Sold 740,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

supported on a slightly tapered foot rounding at the sides to a flared rim, the interior painted in deep purplish-tones of cobalt-blue with two branches laden with plump peaches issuing from delicate leafy stem, exterior sides painted with a meandering scroll of morning glory, its tendrils further issuing large trefoil leaves, all enclosed within double-line borders repeated at the rims.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31st October 2004, lot 176. 

Note:A similar dish was sold in our New York rooms, 8th November 1980, lot 183; and another in our London rooms, 13th December 1983, lot 301. Compare also a Yongzheng dish in the Percival David Foundation, London, with the same decoration on a yellow enamel ground illustrated in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 247; and another sold at Christie's London, 14th July 1980, lot 243.

The painting style of the peaches on this dish is closely related to that found on the famous Yongzheng peach vase, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 175.

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