A fine pair of famille rose 'Jiangxi riverscape' bowls, Jiaqing six-character marks and of the period. Photo courtesy Bonhams.

The interior intricately decorated in iron-red featuring a centralised medallion with lush growth of pine tree, prunus and Buddha's finger citron, further encircled by an outer border of ruyi-heads, each enamelled on the exterior with a continuous serene riverscape scene with a four-character kaishu inscription, above a narrow band of lotus-scroll border, the base with an iron-red six-character Imperial zhuanshu seal mark. Each: 14.5cm diam. (2). Estimate HK$ 800,000 - 1.2 million (€77,000 - 110,000)

The inscription on the bowls individually reads and translates as:

Xunyang jiu pai 'Nine Tributaries of Xunyang'
Xuting yan liu 'Misty Willows at the Xu Pavilion' 

These bowls came from a set of ten bowls, each depicting one of ten beautiful views of Jiangxi province. Unlike other non-landscape famille rose examples made during the Jiaqing period, bowls such as the current lot which were carefully compiled in sets to illustrate dramatic compositions required a great effort in planning and execution. The use of a wide range of enamel colours and attention to non-repetitive subject matters only further accentuated the difficulty and accomplishment of the master enameller. Other series of 'ten views' porcelain bowls were also created during the Jiaqing period, including 'Ten Views of Western Lake', 'Ten Views of Changjiang', 'Ten Views of Lushan' and 'Ten Views of Dongting'. 

A complete set of 'Ten Views of Jiangxi' bowls including two identical to the current lot is in the Meiyintang collection, see Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection. Volume Four (II), London, 1994-2010, pp.296-305, no.1762-1771. Another related Jiaqing riverscape bowl from a private Portuguese collection was also sold in these rooms,Voyages of Discovery: A Connoisseur's Choice, 27 May 2012, lot 5. 

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART. Hong Kong. 24 Nov 2013 14:00 CST