A fine pair of famille-rose 'Hundred Boys' bowls. Seal marks and period of Jiaqing. Photo Sotheby's

each finely potted with rounded sides supported on a slightly tapered foot rising to a flaring rim, the exterior finely painted with a continuous scene of boys at play in a garden, a group covering their ears while others are lighting up firecrackers near a bridge, another throng offering peaches to a man wearing a long obe and holding a ruyi, three boys watching bats hovering in the sky after releasing them from a jar on the river bank, the recessed base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in iron-red; 11.7 cm., 5 1/8 in. Estimate 1,200,000-1,500,000 HKD. Lot 3187 unsold

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's London, 4th November 2009, lot 201.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: The depiction of 'Hundred Boys' at play, representing the wish for many descendants, was a popular theme in the decorative arts of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The 'Hundred Boys' refers to King Wen of the Zhou dynasty who had ninety-nine sons and adopted one more to make one hundred. 

Compare a single example of this rare series, sold by Christie's Hong Kong, 26th April 2004, lot 1077, and another with a related design sold by Christie's Hong Kong, 1st May 1995, lot 680

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