Lot 14. An unusual famille-rose jue stand, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 22 cm. Lot sold: 1,260,000 HKD (Estimate: 400,000 - 600,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2021

he shallow rounded sides rising from four cloud-shaped feet to an everted rim and surmounted by a mountain-shaped support in the centre, brilliantly enamelled with rocks emerging from turbulent waves below a peach on top, encircled by a band of multi-coloured stylised chilong on a yellow sgraffiato ground and a key-fret border at the rim, the exterior decorated with lotus sprays, inscribed to the turquoise-enamelled base with a four-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th November 1996, lot 888.

Note: Used as supports for drinking vessels in the form of archaic bronze jue, stands of this rare shape are modelled after Ming dynasty prototypes, such as a blue and white jue and stand, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Dragon-Motif Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, cat. no. 56.

It is unusual to find a yellow-ground famille-rose jue stand with this particular design. There are references in the court archives to yangcai jue stands of ruby-red ground and yellow sgraffiato ground date from the eighth year of the Qianlong period, 1743. See a ruby-ground stand and jue with the same pattern from the Qing Court Collection, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 2008, pl. 105 (fig. 1).

 fig. 1. A famille-rose purple-ground jue and stand, Seal mark and period of Qianlong, Qing court collection © Palace Museum, Beijing

Sotheby's. The Three Emperors: Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns from the Yidetang Collection, Hong Kong, 12 October 2021