A RARE PURPLE CHRYSANTHEMUM DISH MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG

evenly potted with narrow fluted sides 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, richly applied overall with an opaque aubergine glaze of deep crushed blueberry tone, the base and the interior of the foot similarly dressed in aubergine, save for the footring and a six-character reign mark inscribed in underglaze blue and reserved in white within a double ring

Collection of Dr. Carl Kempe (1884-1967), no. 1230 (label).
Eskenazi Ltd., London 2001.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1830.

There is some light wear in areas on the exterior of the petals, a few light scratches and three minute flakes on the interior with possibly some touch-up, but overall the dish is in very good condition. The actual colour is quite close to the catalogue illustration.
"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 Yongzheng Emperor is recorded to have commissioned Nian Xiyao, supervisor of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, to produce chrysanthemum dishes in twelve colours, and Nian to have produced forty pieces of each. The commission is dated the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the eleventh year of the Yongzheng reign, equivalent to 1733 (see Zhu Jiajin, Yangxindian Zaobanchu shiliao jilan [Reader of historical material on the Workshops in the Hall of Mental Cultivation], vol. 1: Yongzheng chao[Yongzheng period], Beijing, 2003, p. 249). No original ‘set’ of twelve dishes is preserved, however, and chrysanthemum dishes of the Yongzheng period are known in many more than twelve colours. The Palace Museum, Beijing, has published Yongzheng examples in thirteen different tones, which have been assembled from different sources, and at least six further colours are recorded elsewhere (see below). Chrysanthemum dishes were still very popular during the Qianlong period (1736-95), but are not known with later reign marks.

The opaque, dark purple enamel of this dish is rare, but a dish of similar colour in the Palace Museum, Beijing, was included in the exhibition China. The Three Emperors 1662 – 1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005-6, cat. no. 172 (second row, left), probably the same dish that is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 257 centre, second from left. Another presumably ruby-red dish of this type (described as rose-red) is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, the World’s Great Collections, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 10, no. 264 right; and another very similar dish from the collection of Lady Dodds was sold in our London rooms, 8th April 1968, lot 193.

The present piece is further unusual in that the enamel not only covers the inside and outside of the dish, but also part of the base as well as the slanted edge of the lobed foot ring. This feature of the enamel only leaving a circle in the centre of the base free for the reign mark is also known from other colours, for example, a chrysanthemum dish covered in a lighter ruby-red and one with an unusual teal-coloured enamel, both also in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see the Royal Academy exhibition 2005-6, loc.cit., second row, centre, and The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, loc.cit. (fig.1).

The twelve Yongzheng dishes from the Palace Museum shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, 2005-6, included examples in yellow, lemon-yellow, amber-yellow, café-au-lait, white, brown, teal, pale turquoise-blue, lime-green, cobalt-blue, deep purple, and ruby-red; this ‘set’ is published again in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, loc.cit., but with one of the yellow dishes replaced by one in a medium blue; in addition, there exists a powder-blue glazed example in the Meiyintang collection, see Krahl, op.cit., vol. 2, no. 847; an example in a bright ‘camellia-leaf’ green in the Baur Collection, Geneva, see John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999 vol. 2, pl. 328; a pair of black dishes in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, exhibited in Seikadō zō Shinchō tōji. Keitokuchin kanyō no bi [Qing dynasty porcelain collected in the Seikado. Beauty of Jingdezhen imperial kilns], Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, cat. no. 92; and a pair of lavender-blue dishes from the Seattle Art Museum and T.Y. Chao collections, a bright turquoise-blue dish from the Paul and Helen Bernat and Hall Family collections, and a celadon-green piece from the Leshantang collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19th May 1987, lot 279; 2nd May 2000, lot 553; and 11th April 2008, lot 2503, respectively.