A fine pair of white wine cups. Mark and period of Yongzheng

A fine pair of white wine cups. Mark and period of Yongzheng

A fine pair of white wine cups. Mark and period of Yongzheng. Photo Sotheby's

delicately potted with slightly rounded, conical sides rising to a flared rim and supported on a straight foot, covered overall with a clear glaze and left undecorated, but inscribed with a six-character reign mark within double circles in underglaze blue on the base; diameters 9 cm and 9.1 cm., 3 1/2 in. Estimate 800,000—1,200,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,280,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's London, 12th December 1989, lot 394 (possibly).

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1778.

NOTE: Plain white cups of this type are extremely rare, this form having more often been decorated with incised dragons or covered in lemon yellow or other enamels. For a dragon-decorated cup in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. I, part 2, pl. 8.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, 07 Apr 11, Hong Kong www.sothebys.com