Lot 12. A fine and rare lemon-yellow cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 6.3 cm. Estimate: 3,000,000- 4,000,000 HKD. Lot sold: 3,780,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

delicately potted with deep rounded sides supported on a short foot, the exterior covered with a vibrant lemon-yellow enamel stopping neatly at the foot, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a four-character reign mark within a double square.

Property from an Important Private Asian Collection.

Note : Yongzheng porcelain cups of this small size, inscribed with four-character reign marks which conform to the smaller area of the base, are extremely rare. Monochrome vessels of this type, deceptively simple in form and colour, represent one of the most technically challenging porcelains to be produced. They required absolute precision in potting, glazing and firing, as the smallest imperfection resulted in the destruction of the piece. Amongst all the different monochrome glazes, yellow is the only colour that has direct imperial association. Although imperial yellow-glazed wares had been produced from the early Ming dynasty, they were used exclusively for ritual ceremonies; thus lemon-yellow vessels provided the court with an alternative for daily use. The yellow glaze was derived from an antimoniate oxide and the lemon-yellow enamel was a Yongzheng innovation achieved when the antimoniate of iron was combined with tin oxide resulting in an opaque yellow enamel of brilliant hue.

A Yongzheng cup with the more commonly found six-character reign mark, from the collection of Dr Ip Yee, sold in these rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 218, was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1980, cat. no. 128. Compare also another pair of this type in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated by Jan Wirgin, Chinese Ceramics from the Axel and Nora Lundgren Bequest, Stockholm, 1978, no. 79.

Sotheby's. Monochrome III, Hong Kong, 22 April 2021