Lot 3705. A pair of yellow-ground underglaze-blue 'peach' dishes, seal marks and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 27 cm., 10 5/8  in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,840,000 HKD (187,652 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

each well potted with shallow sides rising from a tapered foot to a slightly everted rim, the exterior decorated in underglaze blue with a continuous band of of trefoil leaves and floral blooms issuing from intertwining stems, the interior centred with a medallion enclosing nine peaches borne in clusters on gnarled leafy branches, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark, all against a vibrant lemon-yellow ground .

Provenance: Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 8th Bt., later 1st Baron Hesketh (1881-1944).
Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1245. 

Note: Dishes of this type are held in important private and museum collections worldwide, including one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 29; another in the Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 221; and another from the Yokogawa collection, published in the Illustrated Catalogues of the Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics II, Tokyo, 1965, pl. 625. See also a pair of yellow ground dishes painted with this design, from the T.Y. Chao collection, included in the exhibition Ch’ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1974, cat. no. 45, and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 316.

For the prototype of this design, see a Yongzheng mark and period dish painted in underglaze blue with eight peaches, from the Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 247. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 october 2014