Lot Essay
The shape of this very rare dish is most likely based on jade prototypes of contemporary date, such as the Qianlong example illustrated in Emperor Ch'ien-lung's Grand Cultural Enterprise, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, no. V-42. As with the present rhinoceros horn dish, the center of the jade dishes as well as the base are carved as the center of an open flower surrounded by overlapping rows of narrow petals. Chrysanthemum dishes were also made in porcelain and lacquer, but the shape is simpler, with a plain center surrounded by only one row of petals. A set of twelve porcelain dishes of Yongzheng date is illustrated in Kangxi.Yongzheng.Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, 1989, no. 145. And a lacquer example of Qianlong date is illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Ancient Chinese Lacquer, Beijing, 1987, no. 144.