Lot 3553. A Pair of Underglaze-Red ‘Fish’ Dishes, Mark and Period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). D 15cm; D 14.7cm. Sold for HKD 1,140,000 (Estimate HKD 400,000 - 600,000). © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited 2022

This pair of plates has an open mouth and shallow belly with a rimmed foot. The interior is plain, and the exterior is painted with a red-glazed design of three fishes. The base is inscribed in blue and white with 'Made in the Yongzheng era of the Qing dynasty' in two lines of regular script. The white glaze on the entire body is white and moist, and the three fish motifs on the exterior of the bottle are a symbol of the 'Year of the Snake'. The red-glazed decoration is characteristically silhouetted, with no detailing, and the three fishes are of a bright red hue, appearing on the white glaze in a naturalistic and bright manner.

Provenance: Meiyintang Collection, Switzerland.

Published: Kang Ruijun, The Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Volume IV (II), London, 1994-2010, p. 242, no. 1719.

Note: This pair of plates is a valuable imitation of the former official kilns of the Qing Yongzheng period, and the firing of this style of three-fish decoration is clearly recorded in Tang Ying's Tao Cheng Ji Shi: '...... I imitated the Xuan kiln treasure firing, with four types of three fish, three fruits, three chi, and five bats', of which this pair of plates is representative. The red underglaze technique was inherited from the Yongxuan imperial kilns, and the copper-red glaze may have been applied between layers of transparent glaze, unlike the common underglaze copper-red painting technique. The red colour, if achieved, is even more intense, and although it does not convey the details of the pattern, it has a natural ruby-like lustre that is ideal for highlighting the silhouette effect.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version).

Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited. A Romance Among Blooming Roses: The Meiyintang Collection of Three Dynasties Imperial Ceramics, Hong Kong, 2 Dec 2021