Lot 869. A very rare lemon-yellow-enamelled 'chrysanthemum' bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and probably of the period (1723-1735); 7 ¼ in. (18.4 cm.) diam. Estimate: USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 325,000. © Christie's 2021

Each cup is finely potted with deep rounded sides, and is covered on the exterior with a glaze of crushed strawberry-red color. The interior and base are glazed white.

Provenance: By repute, acquired prior to 1980, and thence by descent within the family.

Note: Yongzheng-marked monochrome 'chrysanthemum' bowls are exceptionally rare. A Yongzheng-marked, celadon-glazed ‘chrysanthemum’ bowl of approximately the same size (18 cm. diam.), also potted with twenty-eight petals, in the Meiyintang Collection, is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume Two, 1994-2010, p. 206, no. 860. The Meiyintang bowl was subsequently sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, The Meiyingtang Collection Part V: An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, 8 April 2013, lot 5. Another celadon-glazed example was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 April 2004, lot 943. A further Yongzheng-marked ‘chrysanthemum’ bowl covered in a pale blue glaze, also potted with twenty-eight petals, was sold at Christie’s New York, 22-23 March 2018, lot 768.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 23-24 september 2021