Lot 77. A dated 'famille rose' rose-pink backed bowl, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, dated 1721;  17.8cm, 7in. Estimate 60,000-80,000 GBP. Lot sold 79,250 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

thinly potted with deep rounded sides, the exterior covered in a mottled rose-pink glaze, leaving the interior and the slightly recessed base glazed white, the interior painted in bright enamels with two large peaches, a peony and a lily on leafy branches, inscribed to the base with a four-character mark reading you xinchou nian zhi ('made in the xinchou year', corresponding to 1721) within a double circle. 

The Cartwright collection of Qing monochrome wares

Note: One of the earliest pieces of famille rose porcelain of the Qing empire, this bowl is a rare and exquisite example of a European enamelling technique adopted and adapted into the Chinese repertoire. This bowl belongs to a special group of wares; see a ruby-backed bowl of this form and also bearing a cyclical mark corresponding to 1721 on the base in underglaze blue, but of smaller dimensions and depicting a different fruit and flowers, in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. LIX, fig. 2.

For further examples of Kangxi mark and period ruby-backed vessels, see a pair of cups of flared form rising from a short foot, the interior decorated with fruit and beans in famille rose, from the Paul and Helen Bernat collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 49; and a matching pair from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 155, and 18th November 1986, lot 131.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 09 Nov 2011