Lot 1436. A set of four rare grisaille and pale iron-red-decorated deep dishes, De Cheng Zhai zhi four-character hall marks in iron-red, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 40,000 - USD 60,000. Price realised USD 40,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.

Each with steep sides rising to a slightly flared, rounded rim, delicately decorated in a painterly technique in grisaille and shades of iron red with a different mountainous landscape scene, perhaps representing the four seasons, the mark written in a line on the base.

Provenance: Frank Caro/C.T. Loo, New York.
Property from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Breece III; Christie's, New York, 18 September 2003, lot 373.

Note: The inscription on the base of these four dishes, De Cheng Zhai zhi, may be translated as 'Made for the Studio of Virtue and Honesty', and appears on porcelains ranging in date from the Qianlong to the Daoguang reigns. Geng Baochang notes in Ming Qing ciqi jianding, Beijing, 1993, p. 384, the appearance of the De Cheng Zhai mark on a dish from the Qianlong period decorated with grisaille landscapes. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. 26 March 2010. New York, Rockefeller Plaza