Lot Essay
Previously sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 November 1996, lot 910.
Compare with other Yongzheng dishes of the same pattern and size, one is illustrated by R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, pl. 86; one in the Shanghai Museum of Art, included in the exhibition, Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu , is illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. 48; and another included in the Exhibition of Ch'ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Hong Kong, 1973, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 87. A comparable pair was sold in these Rooms, 31 October 1994, lot 614.
The auspicious scene depicted on the interior invokes the traditional Chinese birthday greeting: 'May your happiness be as deep as the Eastern Sea, and may you live to be as old as the Southern Mountains'. For a discussion, see T. Bartholomew, 'Botanical Puns in Chinese Art from the Collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco', Orientations, September 1985, pp. 18-34, where a similar dish is illustrated, fig. 24.
Compare with other Yongzheng dishes of the same pattern and size, one is illustrated by R. Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, pl. 86; one in the Shanghai Museum of Art, included in the exhibition, Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu , is illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. 48; and another included in the Exhibition of Ch'ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Hong Kong, 1973, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 87. A comparable pair was sold in these Rooms, 31 October 1994, lot 614.
The auspicious scene depicted on the interior invokes the traditional Chinese birthday greeting: 'May your happiness be as deep as the Eastern Sea, and may you live to be as old as the Southern Mountains'. For a discussion, see T. Bartholomew, 'Botanical Puns in Chinese Art from the Collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco', Orientations, September 1985, pp. 18-34, where a similar dish is illustrated, fig. 24.