A Fine and Unusual Pair of Famille-Rose Cups. Marks And Period Of Yongzheng. Photo Sotheby's

each delicately potted with everted sides, a flared rim, and a slightly tapering foot, deftly painted in soft pastel tones with a mirror image design of lilies and pinks growing by rocks and one tall lily extending onto the interior, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a single ring;; 8.5 cm., 3 3/8 in. ESTIMATE 6,000,000-8,000,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: Collection of H.M. Knight (died 1970), The Hague

EXHIBITED: Oosterse Schatten. 4,000 Jaar Aziatische Kunst, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1954, cat. no. 369.

LITERATURE: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 963.

NOTE: No other cup of this delicate design, with this unusual combination of flowers, appears to be recorded.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection, Part II - An Important Selection of Chinese Porcelains. Hong Kong 5 october 2011 www.sothebys.com