A famille verte Month cup, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722). Estimate HK$800,000 - HK$1,200,000 ($103,709 - $155,563). Price Realized HK$1,360,000 ($176,305). Photo Christie's Image LTD 2015 

 The cup is thinly potted with deep rounded sides rising towards a gently flared rim. The exterior is delicately enamelled with narcissus and a single long stemmed rose emerging from a garden rock. The reverse is inscribed with a poetic couplet termining with a seal mark, shang, 'appreciation'. 2 1/2 in. (6.5 cm.) diam., box

Provenance: Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1998, lot 946

Notes: The couplet can be translated as:

As the spring breeze brushes past the jade-like blossoms, the clear morning arrives;
The night moon skips on the waves to pass beyond the great causeway. 

There appears to be some debate on whether the narcissus depicts the eleventh or twelfth lunar month. Similar examples in the Percival David Foundation, exhibited at the British Museum, London, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art are both designated as the eleventh month, respectively illustrated by R. E. Scott, 'Fine Porcelain and Delicate Brushwork', Orientations, November 1986, figs. 2-2b; and the other included in the exhibition, The Wonders of the Potter's Palette - Qing Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1984, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 15.

Compare a very similar example formerly in the Paul and Helen Bernat and Jingguantang Collections, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, November 1996, lot 583; one sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 April 2002, lot 623; and another one at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3314.

A fine Famille Verte 'Month' cup , Kangxi six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1662-1722). Price Realized HK$1,240,000 ($160,633) at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3314. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014

Christie's. IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 2 December 2015, Convention Hall