A superb famille-rose 'peach' dish mark and period of Yongzheng

of shallow rounded form, the delicate exquisitely potted body finely enamelled in a 'famille-rose' palette with two fruiting and flowering twisted peach branches emerging from the underside of the dish, laden with five ripe fruit delicately coloured in shaded tones of pink and yellow-green, the leaves in rich tones of light and dark green, the blossom in pink and white, with three iron-red bats swooping above, the underside with three additional fruit and two bats forming the wufu ('Five Abundances'), the base painted with a six-character mark in underglaze-blue within a double circle

The present dish with its brilliant fencai (famille rose) enamels appears to be a fine example of early 'peach' dishes of the Qing dynasty. The design of eight peaches was the characteristic number of fruit depicted during Yongzheng's reign, while later examples made during Qianlong's reign were decorated with the nine peaches design. The peach motif is rich in its symbolism, making it a much favoured design associated with longevity, immortality and blessing for a new Spring or new beginning.

See a larger Yongzheng peach dish in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Ancient Chinese Ceramic Gallery: The Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1996, pl. 83; a pair included in Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, pls. 149 and 150; and one published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 56. Compare also a dish from the B.Y. Lam Foundation in the Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, included in the university's exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, cat.no. 62; and one in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 226.

A similar dish but larger in size, from the Jingguantang collection, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 5th November 1997, lot 878A; and another was sold in our London rooms, 20th June 2001, lot 13.