A MAGNIFICENT FAMILLE ROSE 'PEACH' DISH SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS MAY BE REQUESTED BY SOTHEBY'S TO COMPLETE THE PRE-REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORM AND TO DELIVER TO SOTHEBY'S A DEPOSIT OF HK$1,000,000, OR SUCH OTHER HIGHER AMOUNT AS MAY BE DETERMINED BY SOTHEBY'S, AND ANY FINANCIAL REFERENCES, GUARANTEES AND/OR SUCH OTHER SECURITY AS SOTHEBY'S MAY REQUIRE IN ITS ABSOLUTE DISCRETION AS SECURITY FOR THEIR BID. THE BIDnow ONLINE BIDDING SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR PREMIUM LOTS.



the rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a flared rim, delicately painted on the exterior with two peach branches growing from above the foot crossing over the rim and onto the interior, one branch with white blossoms and a bluish-grey trunk, the other with pink flowers and brown bark, both covered with moss, the trees laden with eight ripe pink peaches, five on the interior and three on the exterior, the peaches transmuting from pale green to strawberry pink with some speckling on the skin, the blue-green leaves showing a paler side, with three iron-red bats hovering on the interior and two on the exterior, the base inscribed with a six-character underglaze blue seal mark

C.T. Loo, Paris. 
Sotheby's New York, 23rd September 1997, lot 343.
Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1346.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

Christie's 20 Years in Hong Kong, 1986-2006. Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Highlights, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 207.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1757.

The overall condition is very good. The enamels are vibrant and with only minimal loss. On the interior, one leaf has a minute burst air bubble with a enamel loss. Two stems has 2 mm enamel loss. On the exterior one peach has a little enamel shrinkage. There are minute pin pricks on the rim.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The design of peaches and bats, with its auspicious message conveying wishes of longevity and happiness, and its sophisticated design that flows uninterrupted from the outside onto the inside, across the rim of the dish, was developed in the Yongzheng reign (AD 1723-35). Both the Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors appear to have been particularly fond of this design, which they had similarly painted onto bowls and large vases of tianqiuping shape. Of dishes, many more copies of Yongzheng than of Qianlong mark and period are preserved.

Similar Qianlong dishes are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 344, pl. 25; in the Nanjing Museum, included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, The Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 100, together with a Yongzheng prototype, cat. no. 62; in the Musée Guimet, Paris, published in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. VII, col. pl. 50; in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, see Stephen W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art: Illustrated by Examples from the Collection of W.T. Walters, London, 1981 (New York, 1896), pl. 249 right; and in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, see Li He, Chinese Ceramics: The New Standard Guide, London, 1996, no. 660. Only one other Qianlong dish of this design appears to have been offered at auction, formerly probably the pair to the present piece, sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1997, lot 344, and again in these rooms, 1st November 1999, lot 396.

Many Yongzheng dishes of this design are extant, both with square and circular reign marks; see, for example, a dish in the National Museum of China, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu / Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section], Qingdai [Qing dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 46; one from the collections of C. Oswald Liddell, Charles Russell and now in the Gulexuan collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl with Clarissa von Spee, Chinese Ceramics from the Gulexuan Collection, Lünen, 2003, pl. 116, and sold three times in our London rooms, 25th June 1946, lot 98; 11th July 1967, lot 150; and 8th June 1993, lot 91; and another from the British Rail Pension Fund collection, sold twice in our London rooms, 6th July 1971, lot 265; and 8th July 1974, lot 408; and twice in these rooms, 29th November 1997, lot 160, and 16th May 1989, lot 88.