A turquoise-ground 'Dayazhai-style' dish

Guangxu six-character mark and of the period

Guangxu six-character mark and of the period
The interior brightly enamelled with a single magpie perched on a wisteria branch, with peony blossoms and butterflies in flight, with an oval cartouche enclosing the seal mark tian di yi jia chun, the exterior with three iron-red bats. 20.5cm (8in) diam.

Provenance: The collection of Roger F.F.G. Malengreau CBE (1914-1996)

For a similar dish, dated Tongzhi/early Guangxu, see Christie's London, 6 November 2012, lot 238.

After a successful career as a pilot in WWII, Malengreau moved into the Belgian Foreign Service, serving in China and Africa and was ambassador to Malaysia, Singapore and Chile.

In 1948 he was posted to Beijing, encountering the upheaval of the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists. Alongside assisting Belgian missionaries in danger from the conflict, he also helped a Manchu princess, an aunt of the Guangxu emperor, to preserve financial resources banked in Belgium. An act of kindness leading, one would speculate, to the presentation of the present lot as a gift.