A FINE AND EXTREMELY RARE CLAIR-DE-LUNE GLAZED LOBED DISH MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG |

moulded with shallow rounded sides simulating S-shaped petals with a lobed rim, the interior depicted with a central lotus pod surrounded by a further band of overlapping petals, the exterior similarly rendered with petals, enveloped overall save for the unglazed footring with a translucent pale celadon glaze, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double circle

Collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-1980).
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5th November 1997, lot 1374.

Sotheby's: Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 154.

The dish is in good condition with just expected light surface wear to the interior and rim. There is an original faint bodyline measuring approx. 1.7 cm to the side at the 5 o'clock position of the mark.
"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 dish is notable for the luminosity of the delicate clair-de-lune glaze that impeccably covers the large surface area. This high-fired glaze, with a cobalt content of about 1%, was first produced by the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen during the Kangxi Emperor’s reign. Known in the West by the 19th-century French connoisseurs’ term clair-de-lune (‘moon light’), and in China as tianlan (‘sky blue’), it was one of the most successful monochrome glazes created in Jingdezhen during the Kangxi reign, its soft hue reserved exclusively for imperial porcelains.  Dishes of this type are rarely found covered in a clair-de-lune glaze and no other closely related example appears to have been published; compare a similar dish of much smaller size sold in our London rooms, 15th May 2013, lot 254.

Yellow-glazed versions are more frequently found; see one of similar size, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong bowuguan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pt. II, pl. 192; another in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Qingdai danse you ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of monochrome glazed porcelain of the Qing dynasty], Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 27; two from the Sir Percival David collection, now in the British Museum, London, published in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1989, no. A521 and B538 (illustrated pl. C); and a pair from the Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Art, included in the exhibition Mille ans de Monochromes / A Millennium of Monochromes, Baur Foundation, Geneva, 2018, cat. no. 173.

Porcelain vessels delicately modelled in the form of flowers or leaves were popular in the early Qing dynasty, although these were generally small-scale items for the scholar’s desk. The stylised repetition of the petals of this dish which radiate around the central pod, and the soft tone of the clair-de-lune glaze endow this piece with a sense of serenity and modesty, which are well suited to its subject matter. The lotus, hehua or lianhua in Chinese, is closely associated with Buddhism, and represents qualities such as purity, integrity and spiritual awakening. The flower rises undefiled from impure muddy waters, symbolising the power of the soul to emerge from the physical world, samsara, and achieve enlightenment.