Lot Essay
The hall mark, Yang he tang zhi, 'Hall for cultivating harmony', was used on porcelains dating from the Yongzheng through the Jiaqing period. A similar wine warmer with the same hall mark, dated to the Qianlong period, was sold at Sotheby's, London, 16 June 1998, lot 259, and another somewhat larger example with a Yongzheng seal mark in black enamel was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 25 October 1993, lot 828. Yet another with a black enamel Jiajing mark was sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 1 May 2001, lot 542. A wine warmer of this shape, but with different decoration, dated Yongzheng, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated by W. E. Cox, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, vol. II, New York, 1949, vol. II, p. 587, fig. 872.