Lot 30. A fine and rare pair of lime-green cups, marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 8.8 cm., 3 1/2 in. Estimate 2,500,000—3,500,000 HKD. Lot Sold 11,300,000 HKD (1,453,632 USD)  to an Asian Private. Photo Sotheby's 2011.

each delicately potted with rounded sides resting on a straight foot, covered on the exterior with a bright lime-green enamel, the interior and base left white, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within double squares, wood stands

Exhibited: Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, The British Museum, London, 1994.
Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 189.

Literature: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 906.

Note: Lime-green is probably the rarest enamel colour prepared in the Yongzheng period, and the square reign mark here used is found on some of the finest Yongzheng porcelains. The present cups may be the only pair of this type preserved. A single cup of the same colour and also with the square mark, from the Paul and Helen Bernat collection, was sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 68.

Two lime-green cups of slightly different proportions and with the more common circular Yongzheng reign mark in Taipei are published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Republic of China. K'ang-hsi Ware and Yung-cheng Ware, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 153; and in the exhibition catalogue Qingdai danse you ciqi tezhan, Taipei, 1981, pl. 44; another pair of that type with circular mark was included in the exhibition Shimmering Colours. Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods: The Zhuyuetang Collection, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 113; and a single cup was included in the Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, at the same museum, Hong Kong, 1981-2, cat. no. 136.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, Hong Kong, 07 Apr 11.