Lot 41. A wucai 'Flower and butterfly' dish, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). Width 17.3 cm, 6¾ in. Estimate: 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of square shape, robustly potted with wide flaring sides raised on a slightly tapered foot, the interior painted with four butterflies hovering above large blooming peonies issuing from leafy branches beside a large garden rock, surrounded by four petal-shaped cartouches each enclosing a dragon in flight at the cavetto, the exterior similarly decorated, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Christie's London, 14th June 1985, lot 437.

Exhibited: Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 101.