Lot 117. A fine and extremely rare ruby-red cup, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735);  6.5 cm., 2 1/2  in. Estimate 2,200,000 — 2,800,000 HKD (250,835 - 319,244 EUR). Lot sold 4,040,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely potted with rounded thin sides springing from a short slightly tapered foot, the exterior evenly covered with a rich, ruby-coloured glaze, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a four-character reign mark within a double-square.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4th May 1994, lot 99.
The Leshantang Collection, Taipei.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 11th April, 2008, lot 2502.

Exhibition: Chinese Art from the Ching Wan Society Collections II, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 45.

Bibliography: The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, cat. no. 41.

Note: Yongzheng porcelain cups of this small size, inscribed with four-character reign marks which conform to the smaller area of the base, are extremely rare. Monochrome vessels of this type, deceptively simple in form and colour, represent one of the most technically challenging porcelains to be produced. They required absolute precision in potting, glazing and firing, as the smallest imperfection resulted in the destruction of the piece. 

A slightly larger ruby-red cup with an apocryphal Chenghua mark, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976, cat. no. 155. See also a pair sold at Christie's London, 14th July 1980, lot 286. Compare also shallower ruby-red glazed cups with six character Yongzheng marks, such as a pair published in The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 126; and another illustrated in Shoudu Bowuguan cangci xuan, Beijing, 1991, pl. 147, in the Capital Museum, Beijing.

For a lemon-yellow cup of identical size, sharing the same rare Yongzheng four-character reign mark, see the example sold in these rooms, 28th/29th November 1978, lot 135, and offered in this sale, lot 116.

Sotheby's. Yongzheng – The Age of Harmony and Integrity, Hong Kong, 07 avr. 2015