The dish is decorated and gilt with an elegant orchid beside a flowering rose and a butterfly in flight. It is accompanied by an excerpt from a poem about orchids by the Tang poet Ya Tu, and signed Hui'an with an iron red seal and an artemisia leaf in iron red. The reverse is decorated with two iron-red flower sprays.
Provenance: The Weishaupt Collection, Germany, no. 218/2. Christie's Amsterdam, 20-21 November 2007, lot 206 (one of two).
Catalogue note: The poem may be translated as 'the scent and pure noble character of the orchid is so refined that even the wisdom of a man of honour appreciates its unique temperament and wishes to hold himself against it'.
Condition? the rim has been ground, a few chips to the feet, expected light wear to the enamelling.
Origin: China
Period: Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Sizes: 16.50 cm. diameter
6.5 in. diameter