Lot 14. An inscribed blue and white 'tea-poem' tray, Jiaqing seal mark and period, dated 1797; 15.8cm., 6 1/4 in. Estimate 20,000-30,000 GBP. Lot sold 25,000GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the shallow lobed sides of quatrefoil section, resting on four small incurved feet, decorated to the interior with a quatrefoil panel enclosing an imperial poem pertaining to the preparation of tea and dated to dingsi year of Jiaqing’s reign (corresponding to 1797), set within a band of scrolling lotus and florets repeated on the interior and the exterior of the walls with a variation on the central bloom, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark.

Provenance: The Weishaupt Collection.
Sotheby's Amsterdam, 16th October 1995, lot 1.