Lot 921. From The Au Bak Ling Collection. A rare doucai Ming-style jar, Kangxi-Yongzheng period (1662-1735); 13 cm diam. Price realised HKD 2,667,000 (Estimate HKD 1,200,000 – HKD 2,500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

The base is inscribed with an apocryphal Chenghua mark.
 

Provenance: Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 13 January 1987, lot 486

Note: The design on the current jar is inspired by Chenghua prototypes. A Chenghua jar of this design is illustrated together with a Kangxi version by Geng Baochang in, Ming Qing ciqi jianding (Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelains), Hong Kong, 1993, col. pls. 37 and 38. Another Chenghua jar from the Percival David Collection, now housed in the British Museum, London, is published together with a Qing dynasty jar from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, by Yeh Pei-lang, Beauty of Ceramics: Gems of the doucai, Taipei, 1993, nos. 135 and 136.

According to the palace archives, in the fourth month of Yongzheng seventh year (1729), the Emperor ordered wooden models to be made based on a pair of Chenghua wucai jars. The models were then sent to Nian Xiyao in Jingdezhen in order to fire vessels in imitation of those Chenghua jars. The current lot is possibly one of the jars made under the special request by the Emperor to emulate Chenghua wares.

Lot 922. From The Au Bak Ling Collection. A fine famille verte 'apricot blossom' month cup, Kangxi six-character mark in three lines in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722); 6.6 cm diam. Price realised HKD 1,524,000 (Estimate HKD 800,000 – HKD 1,500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Sold at Christie’s London, 5 April 1976, lot 80

Note: 'Month' cups were produced in the Kangxi period (1662-1722) in both famille-verte and blue and white palettes. While most Kangxi 'month' cups are inscribed with reign marks in two lines, the current lot is very rare bearing a mark in three lines.

The present cup is associated with the second lunar month of the year. Refer to a complete set of famille verte ‘month’ cups in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, no. 48.

Christie's. The Au Bak Ling Collection, Hong Kong, 30 October 2025