Lot 1312. A small doucai saucer dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 4 3/8 in. (11.2 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 68,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013 

The interior is decorated with a central iron-red blossom surrounded by four similar blossoms, all borne on and enclosed within finely penciled stems in underglaze blue with scrolling tendrils and green leaves. A similar frieze of eight blossoms encircles the exterior of the shallow rounded sides.

Provenance: Christie's New York, 30 May 1991, lot 368.

Note: Although Yonzheng-marked dishes of this pattern were made in varying sizes, those of small size appear to be quite rare. A pair (11.4 cm.) from the Wang Xing Lou Collection is illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors: Kangxi - Yongzheng - Qianlong, Hong Kong, 2004, pp. 92-3, no. 30. Those of somewhat larger size include a dish (15.6 cm.) sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 2932; another from the Paul and Helen Bernat Collection of Important Qing Imperial Porcelain and Works of Art, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 15 November 1988, lot 16; and a pair (15.5 cm.) from the collection of Stephen Junkunc III sold at Christie's New York, 21 September 1995, lot 258. Larger dishes (approximately 27 diam.) include one in the Chang Foundation Collection, illustrated by J. Spencer in Selected Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, no. 134; one illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, p. 355, no. 1067; one illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no. 210; and a dish sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2007, lot 34.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 19 - 20 September 2013