Lot 23. Property from an important European collection. A rare pair of incised aubergine-glazed saucer dishes, Marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 11.3 cm. Lot Sold 152,400 HKD (Estimate 40,000 - 60,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2024

each potted with shallow rounded sides resting on a short foot, incised around the exterior with an undulating pomegranate scroll, covered overall in an aubergine glaze, the white base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s.

Note: Although the aubergine glaze colour had been developed already in the Xuande period, it remained very rare until the Qing dynasty, when it became popular mainly for bowls and dishes. The current pair of dishes, incised with pomegranates, is rarer than those with the 'Eight Buddhist Emblems', such as the pair from the Meiyintang Collection, sold in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 7. 

Other examples are illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. III, pls A 476 and 477; another pair from the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum (accession nos PDF,B.583 and 584); and a single dish included in the exhibition Qingdai danse you ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of monochrome glazed porcelain of the Qing dynasty], Palace Museum, Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 45. Compare also a dish formerly in the collections of the Hall family and Sir Joseph Hotung, sold twice in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 531, and 9th October 2022, lot 107; and another pair from the collections of Lorant Goldschlager and Marchant, sold three times in 1973, 2011 and most recently in these rooms, 10th July 2020, lot 3121.

Sotheby's. An Important European Collection of Chinese Ceramics - Acquired from Edward T. Chow, Hong Kong, 9 April 2024.