Lot 254. A Fine Pair of Yellow-Glazed Bowls, Qianlong Seal Marks and Period  (1736-1795); 2 - 12.6cm., 5in. Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 GBP. Lot sold 109,250 GBP.  Photo Sotheby's

each with rounded sides supported on a straight foot, glazed overall in rich egg-yolk yellow, the white base inscribed with a six-character Qianlong seal mark.

Provenance: Collection of Cyras and Mildred Churchill, Moline Illinois.
Sotheby's New York, 12th March 1975, lot 421.
Marchant, London.

Note: Two bowls of this form and size, similarly covered in this striking yellow glaze, with Qianlong reign marks and of the period, from the Estate of Sarabel Florsheim, was sold in our New York rooms, 31st March 2005, lot 134. Compare also a pair of bowls sold at Christie’s New York, 29th November 1990, lot 219; and a single yellow-glazed bowl included in the exhibition Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Part 1, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 142.

Yellow-glazed Qianlong bowls of this type were also made with incised decoration on the exterior; for example, see one from the Jingguantang collection included in the exhibition Gems of Chinese Art. Selections of Ceramics and Bronzes from the Tsui Art Foundations, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 1992, cat. no. 118, and later sold at Christie’s New York, 18th September 1997, lot 161.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, London, 07 november 2012