A RARE PINK-GROUND SGRAFFIATO YANGCAI SAUCER SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

the shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, the exterior brightly painted with four floral sprays, all reserved against a pink enamel ground incised with feathery scrolls, the interior left plain and the rim gilt, inscribed to the white base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue
11.1 cm, 4 3/8 in.

Provenance:
Exquisitely painted with luxuriant flower sprays scattered around its exterior, this striking saucer belongs a select group of porcelain produced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen for the Qianlong Emperor in the early years of his reign. Known as yangcai (Western colours) in Chinese, these wares were the most valued porcelain at the Qing court and were particularly admired by the Emperor himself, who had them displayed in the Qianqinggong (Palace of Heavenly Purity), his largest private quarters in the inner court of the Forbidden City.

No closely related dish appears to have been published, although the motif bears resemblance to a pair of dishes with floral sprays against a ruby ground, but painted on the interior with fruit sprays and with a four-character mark in blue enamel, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Stunning Decorative Porcelains from the Ch’ien-lung Reign, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 5, together with a pair of bowls, also with an underglaze-blue seal mark, cat. no. 1.