Lot 275. A rare famille rose 'Peony' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735). 8 ¼ in. (20.8 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 80,000 - GBP 120,000. Price realised GBP 200,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

The dish is delicately decorated with a design of several intertwining blossoming branches of peony, magnolia and crabapple, beginning on the reverse and spilling over into the interior, with two butterflies fluttering above a large vibrant peony bloom to the centre.

Note: The style of decoration on this dish, which shows a flowering branch over the rim, is known as guozhihua, 'flowering branch passing over (the rim)'. It was first developed at the end of the Ming dynasty in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. However, it was not until the Yongzheng period that this guozhihua style of decoration seems to have been most popular. It was especially favoured at court which is shown in Imperial examples such as a larger dish (29.5 cm.) with a slightly different design to the present lot, from the Baur Collection, illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 221 [A589]; and a charger (50.6 cm.) sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 611.

A magnificent imperial famille rose 'prunus' dish, Yongzheng blue enamel four-character mark within a double square and of the period (1723-1735). Sold for 32,524,100 HKD at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 611. © Christie's Images Ltd 2002.