Lot 3023. A fine and rare small Ming-style doucai ‘chicken’ cup, Kangxi-Yongzheng period (1662-1735), 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,800,000 (USD 154,862 - USD 232,293). Price realised HKD 1,620,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The cup is finely potted with thin rounded sides, delicately painted to the exterior in soft translucent enamels and underglaze blue with a continuous scene depicting two groups of cockerel, separated by tall garden rocks in underglaze-blue wash, one partially concealing a palm tree and yellow day lilies, the other a rose bush with ironred flowers, all between a blue double-line border around the mouth rim and a single line above the footless, countersunk base, which bears an apocryphal six-character Chenghua mark within a double square.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby’s London, 11 May 2011, lot 227

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall