Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 11 september 2012
A blue and white ''Boys' bowl, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566)
Lot 271. A blue and white 'Boys' bowl, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). Diameter of first bowl 5 in., 12.8 cm. Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 USD. Lot sold 43,750 USD. Photo Sotheby's
well painted in varying tones of underglaze blue to the exterior with a continuous scene of sixteen boys at play within a garden setting, divided into groups of four by tall overhanging trees, all between a double-line border at the rim and a triple-line border at the foot, the interior with a central medallion of a single tree with intertwined branches and a band of swimming fish amidst waterplants around the rim, six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle; together with a Transitional Period bowl with scholars seated by a riverbank (2).
Property from The Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Richard Eckhardt.
Provenance: Acquired in Japan between 1947 and 1952 and thence by descent.
Note: A bowl of similar composition and size was sold in our Hong Kong rooms 10th April 2006, lot 1672.