A pair of yellow-ground famille rose 'Bajixiang' dishes. Tongzhi marks and period. Photo Sotheby's

each with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot, painted to the central gilt-edged medallion with a kite hanging on a gnarled blossoming tree, the rim encircled with lobed cartouches enclosing flowers, fruits and auspicious objects alternating with florets with stylised leafy tendrils, the exterior with four similarly decorated gilt-edged medallions divided by the beribboned bajixiang emblems in pairs, encircled at the top and bottom with bands of linked ruyi heads, all reserved on a bright lemon-yellow ground, the base inscribed with a six-character Tongzhi mark in iron-red  Quantity: 2  17.8cm., 6 7/8 in. Estimate 6,000-8,000 GBP. Lot Sold: 7,500 GBP

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9th January 1996, lot 282.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 09 Nov 2011 www.sothebys.com