Lot 1745. A rare yellow-enameled famille noire saucer dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 5 13/16 in. (14.7 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. Price realised USD 182,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2011. 

The shallow rounded sides finely decorated on the exterior in famille verte with two undulating leafy stems, each bearing four flowers including an iron-red lotus and a blue peony, all surrounded by fine green tendrils reserved on a black ground below the line of lemon-yellow enamel that continues over the rim to cover the interior, the foot penciled in black with classic scroll under a pale green glaze.

Provenance: Bluett, London.

Note: A pair of dishes of this design was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition, An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1980, no. 131; while another pair was sold in these rooms, 3 December 1992, lot 336. Another similar dish from the Hong Kong Museum of Art was included in the exhibition, The Wonder of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong, 1984, no. 52. Other dishes of this type can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, pl. 23, and in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 3, 1988, no. 202.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part I and Part II Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 24 March 2011