Lot 49. A miniature wucai saucer dish, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619). Estimate HKD 40,000 — 60,000 (4,516 - 6,773 EUR). Lot Sold 725,000 HKD (81,846 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

with shallow sides rising from a short foot to a flaring rim, painted to the central interior with a deep bowl supported on an iron-red stand, laden with melon, peaches, turnips, lotus roots, grapes and flowers, the well encircled by four fruiting and flowering peach sprays repeated on the exterior, inscribed to the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle - 6.6 cm, 2 5/8  in.

Provenance: Collection of A.W. Bahr (1877-1959). 
Collection of Miss Edna Helen Bahr, until 1965. 
Sotheby's London, 1st November 1965, lot 87 (£180). 
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1965 (£180).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1965 (£220).

Note: A slightly larger dish of this type, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 51; another from the Holger Lauritzen collection and now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 250; and a third from the collection of B.C. Tattenhall, was sold in our London rooms, 12th December 1989, lot 421.