Lot 3643. A fine and rare pink-ground famille-rose sgraffiato 'flower-brocade' saucer dish, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 15.8 cm., 6 1/4  in. Estimate 4,000,000 — 6,000,000 HKD (459,824 — 689,736 EUR). Lot sold 4,880,000 HKD (560,985 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's

potted with shallow rounded sides rising from a low tapered foot to a wide everted rim decorated with florets and foliate scrolls, the interior enamelled in various pastel shades with multi-coloured 'flower brocades', some freely floating, others overlapping in small clusters of blooms, all within detached lotus and chrysanthemum scrolls bordering the flat everted rim, reserved on a pink enamel ground densely painted with rose-coloured feather scrolls, the exterior similarly adorned with flowers and foliage on a blue sgraffiatoground, the base enamelled turquoise and centred with a six-character iron-red seal mark reserved on a white cartouche.

Provenance: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8th October 2010, lot 2701.

Note: The present elaborately decorated dish is a showpiece for the wide range of colours used by the artist and also a fine example of the high level of enamelling technique achieved during the Qianlong period. This dish appears to be the only example of its kind, although the use of the floral roundel motif reserved on a colour ground densely painted with feather scrolls, after the sgraffiato technique, can be found on a number of vessels illustrated in Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch'ien-lung Reign, Taipei, 2009, such as the pair of square vases decorated with incised floral roundels on a puce-ground of feather scrolls, ibid., pl. 23, and a revolving gourd-form vase with the floral roundels on a yellow-ground of feather scrolls, ibid., pl. 76.

The motif of floral roundels, also known as 'flower brocade' was first introduced to the potters' repertoire during the Yongzheng period. It can be found on bowls, such as the one attributed to the Palace Workshop, with a Yongzheng reign mark and of the period, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decorations and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 21; another bowl included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 100; and a jar published in Kangxi. Yongzheng and Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 45.  

The detailed and complex sgraffiato technique, that involves the laborious needle-point etching of endless strolling fronds, used for the decoration of the exterior of this dish is a Qianlong period innovation. It was used for decorating special Imperial pieces, large vases as well as miniature vessels. For examples of sgraffiato-ground wares enamelled in different colour schemes, from the Qing court collection and now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch'ien-lung Reign, op.cit., including a pair of vases decorated with a flower scroll on a blue sgraffiato ground of feather scrolls, pl. 47; and another blue-ground vase, pl. 41. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art Hong Kong, 07 Oct 2015