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

Chrysanthemum-form porcelain dishes, reviving a Song dynasty lacquer shape, were produced in twelve different colors during the Yongzheng period. A number of chrysanthemum-shaped dishes with Yongzheng marks are in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 37- Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 257. Six are illustrated by Feng Xianming, Wenwu, 1984, p. 37, no. 10, where the author noted that a decree issued in the eleventh year of Yongzheng (corresponding to 1733) instructed Nian Xiyao, Minister of the Imperial Household, to send "the twelve colours of chrysanthemum dishes, one of each colour, for the inspection of the permanent guardian of the treasury and chief eunuch Samuha." The decree further mentions "forty pieces to be fired of every type according to the samples." A rare complete set of Yongzheng chrysanthemum dishes in the twelve different colors is illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 316, no. 145.

A similar powder-blue-glazed Yongzheng chrysanthemum dish is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, Vol II, p. 196, no. 847. Another pair of Yongzheng powder-blue-glazed dishes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is illustrated in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 264;