Lot 168. A yellow-glazed ‘chrysanthemum’ dish, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.
the rounded sides divided into forty-four narrow flutes and pointed tips resembling the petals of a chrysanthemum flower, radiating around a slightly recessed centre and continuing on the exterior across the short straight foot, applied overall with a rich yellow glaze, save for the footring and a six-character reign mark inscribed in underglaze blue and reserved in white within a double ring - 17.9 cm, 7 in..
Notes: Exceptional for its crisp potting and luminous yellow glaze, dishes of this type were first created during the Yongzheng reign, when monochrome porcelains saw an expansion of forms and colours. A set of twelve dishes of this type, including one covered with a yellow glaze, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Qing porcelains from the imperial kilns preserved in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. 2, pl. 194; and another dish was sold at Christie’s London, 3rd/4th June 1973, lot 212.
According to Palace records, in 1733 the Yongzheng Emperor ordered Nian Xiayo, then superintendent of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, to make twelve differently coloured chrysanthemum-shaped dishes. Records show that Nian delivered forty pieces of each colour (see the catalogue to the exhibition China. The Three Emperors, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, p. 431)..
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Londres, 09 nov. 2016, 11:30 AM