Lot 33. A fine and large celadon-glazed bowl carved with flower and fruit sprays, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 34.3 cm., 13 1/2 in. Estimate 2,000,000 - 2,500,000 HKD. Lot sold 2,900,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

the deep rounded sides rising from a straight foot to a wide flaring rim, the exterior exquisitely carved and emphasized with incised details with the flowers of the four seasons, depicting branches of peony with attendant smaller flowers, a spray of lotus with large blooms, buds and a pad, a sprig of hibiscus together with asters, and a prunus branch and camellias, all rising from above the foot and interspersed with fruiting boughs of peach, lychee, pomegranate and finger citron, covered overall with a deep sea-green celadon glaze thinning to a paler tone on the carved areas and at the rim, the interior left uncarved, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue

Provenance: Jingguantang Collection, The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.
Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 570.
Eskenazi Ltd, London.

Literature: The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 127.
The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 36.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1804.

Note: Bowls of this form and with this design of flowers and fruits of the four seasons were made in both Yongzheng (AD 1723-35) and Qianlong (AD 1736-95) periods, the former also with the reign mark inscribed in seal script, but usually with a celadon glaze of more bluish tone. A Yongzheng example from the Anthony de Rothschild collection is illustrated in Regina Krahl, The Anthony de Rothschild Collection of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 2, n. p., 1996, no. 144; another from the Hall Family Collection was sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 543.