Lot 160. A fine and rare ruby-pink enameled dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Diameter 4 ⅜ in., 11 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 USD. Lot sold: 126,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

delicately potted with shallow rounded sides, rising from a slightly recessed base and a tapering foot to an everted rim, brightly glazed on the exterior and interior with an intense crimson-pink enamel, the base left in white with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Provenance: Acquired from a Japanese Collection, California, circa 2012.

Note: Dishes of this wonderful ruby color are exceedingly rare. A closely related example with a square reign mark, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is published in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 256. Another similar dish of larger size (20 cm diam.) is illustrated in Qingdai yuyao Ciqi [Qing porcelains from the imperial kilns preserved at the Palace Museum], vol. 1, part 2, Beijing, 2005, pl. 196. A third published example (15 cm diam.) with a white-glazed interior, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 32.

A similar pair from the E.T. Hall Collection was sold in our Hong Kong rooms 2nd May 2000, lot 547, and again 10th April 2006, lot 1625. A larger dish with a white-glazed interior from the Meiyintang Collection was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 28.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 17 march 2021