A YELLOW RESERVE BLUE-GROUND 'GARDENIA' DISH MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG

the centre of the interior decorated with a spray of gardenia encircled by four similar sprays on the cavetto, the veins and details finely painted in white slip, the exterior similarly decorated with a continuous scroll, all beneath a vibrant egg-yolk yellow enamel reserved against a speckled navy-blue ground, the rims and base left in white, the latter inscribed with a six-character underglaze blue reign mark within a double circle

Collection of Edward G. Kennedy.
Collection of Edward Kennedy Torrington.
Christie's New York, 2nd December 1989, lot 371.

Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/ Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 142.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 844.

There is a 4 cm hairline from the rim (at about 2 o'clock). There are glaze scratches on the interior and consolidated rim frits around the rim concealed beneath paint. The exterior has five patches of blue glaze that has crackled and flaked off and has been retouched with blue paint.
"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."

This design exists also in blue with white reserves only, but whereas the blue-and-white version may be based on prototypes of the Xuande reign (AD 1426-35), the blue-and-yellow style was devised in the Yongzheng period. The Yongzheng dishes differ markedly in their technique from the Ming examples. While the Qing pieces show a speckled 'powder-blue' glaze that would have been blown onto the vessel surface through a tube covered with gauze - a form of application ideally suited for stencil reserves -  the Ming prototypes show a thick, dark cobalt-blue glaze, where white reserves were much more difficult to achieve.

A blue-and-white dish of the same design and the same provenance was also in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Krahl, op. cit., vol. 4, no. 843, and sold in these rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 75; another blue-and-white dish of this pattern in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 248; and one with a different white design in the National Museum, Beijing is published 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. 42. Blue-and-yellow dishes of this design are very rare, but two were sold at Christie's New York, 21st September 1995, lot 650, and 19th September 2007, lot 307.