Lot 165. A rare famille-rose shell-shaped ink palette, Jiaqing seal mark and period (1796-1820). Width 3 ⅜ in., 8.7 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 USD. Lot sold: 31,500 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

well modeled as a flattened conch shell with stepped layers depicting the spiraled cone shape, the exterior textured with raised dots under a pale turquoise-green enamel, the opening of the shell formed as the sunken well painted in shades of iron red, the rim gilt, the white-glazed base with a recessed square enclosing a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Note: Compare a closely related famille-rose ink palette of this rare form, first sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th April 2001, lot 757, and later in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2001, lot 3089. See also a Qianlong example sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 27th and 28th October 1992, lot 148

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