Lot 3107. A blue and white 'Boy and peony' dish, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 15.8 cm, 6 1/4  in. Estimate 100,000 — 200,000 HKD. Lot sold 400,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

the deep rounded sides raised on an angled base and a short straight foot, reverse painted in rich cobalt-blue tones to the interior with a medallion enclosing a boy holding a branch of peony flowers against a dense blue leafy scroll ground, encircled at the rim by a lotus scroll band, the exterior with three floral sprays alternating with butterflies in flight, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Collection of Tang Shaoyi (1862-1938), the first prime minister of the Republic of China, and thence by descent.

Note: A similar dish, from the collection of P.J. Donnelly, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of Ch'ing Dynasty, London, 1964, cat. no. 98. See also a bowl with a related design exhibited in The Bertil J. Hogstrom Collection, Kangxi Blue and White Porcelain (1662-1722), Marchant, London, 2011, cat. no. 9.

Sotheby's. Marchant – Fifty Qing Imperial Porcelains, Hong Kong, 11 July 2020