YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

Peaches have traditionally been associated with Daoism and longevity. In mythology, the goddess Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the Western Paradise, owned a vast peach orchard, and it was said that anyone who ate the fruit would become immortal. As such, peaches are considered sacred and auspicious, and when used as a decorative motif, convey wishes for longevity and good fortune. Vessels decorated with luxuriant peach branches were very popular in the Qing dynasty, and might have been commissioned as birthday gifts or as a form of commemoration for an imperial birthday.

Compare to two other dishes of this pattern and palette are known. One was included in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., exhibition, Joined Colors, Ceramics from Collectors in the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 61, and subsequently sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 April 1997, lot 58; another was in the Goldschmidt Collection, and later sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 36.

Compare also a Yongzheng-marked blue and white dish of this pattern in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection number guci-008899.