Lot 12. A fine Ming-style blue and white 'floral' dish, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 34.6 cm. Lot sold: 1,197,000 HKD (Estimate: 800,000 - 1,200,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2021

the centre of the interior carefully painted in varying tones of underglaze blue in the ‘heaped and piled’ technique with a composite floral medallion bearing stylised flowerheads borne on narrow stems with twisting leaves, the cavetto and the exterior with a similar floral border below a band of classic scroll, inscribed to the base with a six-character mark.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 27th April 1997, lot 655.

Note: The central flower scroll is evidently inspired by an early 15th century design which can be seen on dishes illustrated by John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 35, and in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, vol. I, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 19, although on the Ming dishes, the medallion is enclosed by sprigs of flowers radiating towards a barbed rim. Compare also Pope, op.cit., pl. 34, no. 29.92, for an early 15th century dish with a related flower scroll around the well with large blooms divided by smaller buds near the rim.

See a similar dish sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1988, lot 249.