Lot 3426. A fine pair of doucai 'lotus' washers, Yongzheng period (1723-1735); 2 3/4 in. (7 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 600,000 - HKD 800,000. Price realised HKD 725,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Each finely potted in imitation of its Ming prototype with gentle rounded sides rising from a recessed base, delicately painted in underglaze blue and enamelled on the exterior with lotus sprays, each supporting a bowl containing an auspicious emblem, all between blue line borders, the countersunk base with an apocryphal six-character Chenghua mark within a double square, box.

Provenance: Tai Sing Antiques Ltd., Hong Kong, 1970s.

Note: The Ming prototypes of the present doucai vessels, bearing Chenghua reign marks, are in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Ware, Taipei, 2003, p. 160-61, no. 157-60, where these are catalogued as 'washers'. A very similar washer formerly in the Sir Harry Garner and Elisabeth Shing collections was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 Jun 2011, lot 3585.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Including The Su Zhu An Collection of Inkstones), Hong Kong, 27 November 2013