Lot 3190. A fine yellow-ground famille-rose bowl. Seal mark and period of Daoguang. Estimate 600,000-800,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo Sotheby's

well potted, the rounded sides rising from a slightly tapering foot to a gently flaring rim, the interior painted with five bats in shaded tones of coral red, the exterior densely painted with flowering lotus, carnation, pink lily and chrysanthemum, all borne on stylised leafy scrolls with further florets reserved on a bright yellow ground, the underside inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze-blue 15 cm., 5 7/8 in. 

PROVENANCE: The Estate of James H. Kelley.
Christie's New York, 15th September 2009, lot 465.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: A closely related example is illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 338; one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is published in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 163; another from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is included in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 15, pl. 238-39; and a fourth bowl was sold in our London rooms, 1st April 1974, lot 356, and again in these rooms, from the British Rail Pension Fund, 16th May 1989, lot 84. Two pairs of bowls were sold in these rooms, one pair, 5th October 2011, lot 2069; and the other pair, 29th October 1991, lot 278, and again, 8th April 2011, lot 3075.

For the Kangxi original of this design compare a bowl with a Kangxi yuzhi mark in blue enamel, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Fine Enamelled Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty. K'ang-hsi Period, Hong Kong, 1967, pl. 2.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Hong Kong | 04 avr. 2012 www.sothebys.com