A RARE AND FINE CHINESE IMPERIAL AGATE CHRYSANTHEMUM-SHAPED DISH

INCISED FOUR CHARACTER YONGZHENG MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1723-35

The lobed shallow body raised on a short ring foot, with six petals radiating from the centre to a gently-flaring rim, the honey-coloured stone with meandering reddish inclusions, 12.5cm.

Provenance: Lt. Col. Edmund Whitehead (1870-1945), an interpreter for the British Army who served in Beijing c.1890, and thence by descent.

Cf. The National Palace Museum, Harmony and Integrity, The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, pp.235-245, where other examples of marked agate vessels are illustrated; see particularly p.237, no.11-63 for a dish of similar form. See also Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2014, lot 3774 for a related bowl.