Lot 312. A fine and large blue and white 'Qilin' dish, Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi Period (1644-1661). Diameter 13 3/4  in., 35 cm. Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 USD. Lot sold 16,250 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

stoutly potted with rounded sides rising from a short tapered and chaneled foot, the interior boldly painted in strong tones of cobalt blue with an animated qilin sitting on its scaly back haunches, one front leg outstretched, the other with hoof raised, bearing a benign expression, the head gazing forward with bulging eyes and mouth agape revealing sharp fangs and emitting wisps of qi, the foreground with auspicious hoofprints of the mythological beast and a beribboned artemisia leaf, all amidst rockwork and a lush plantain tree, the underside with three further auspicious symbols, the rim dressed in an iron-oxide wash, the base undecorated save for a drilled collector's mark da zhai, coll. no. 1387. 

Provenance: Spink & Sons, Ltd., London.
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc., New York, 2001. 

Note: For a dish of similar size, subject matter and quality, see the example in the Palace Museum, Beijing illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Qingdai Ciqi Leixuan Qing Shunzhi Kangxi Chao Qinghuaci [Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Palace Museum: Blue and White Ceramics in Shunzhi and Kangxi Periods], vol. I, Beijing, 2004, pl. 20 and, another in the Butler Family Collection, illustrated in Shunzhi Porcelain, Treasures from an Unknown Reign, Seattle and London, 2002, cat. no. 13

Sotheby's. Kangxi: The Jie Rui Tang Collection, Part II, New York, 19 March 2019