Lot 75. A brown, yellow and green-enamelled anhua-decorated bowl, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722); 16cm (6 1/4in) diam. Estimate £4,000 - 6,000 (€4,900 - 7,300). Sold for £ 20,000 (€ 22,419). © Bonhams

Enamelled around the body with detailed five-petalled blossoms amongst leaves, a butterfly approaching each of the floral groups, two finely incised, snarling five-clawed dragons chasing a flaming pearl just visible beneath the vivid enamels. 

Provenance: George Eumorfopoulos, no.863 (label)
An English private collection

Illustrated: R.L.Hobson, The Catalogue of the George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1927, Vol.V, pl.XXXVIII, no. E.200

Note: The double decoration seen on the present lot and the preceding lot 75, combining incised dragons under floral sprays depicted in bright enamels, is unusual and is only found on bowls or dishes of this particular design. However it is very pleasing to note the care with which the two apparently unrelated motifs are layered, with the dragons carefully concealed beneath the floral sprays and each incised pearl paired with an enamelled butterfly hovering above it.

Similar bowls are in important museum and private collections. See for example a pair illustrated by S.Vainker in Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 2005, pl.154; another pair in the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated by Gulland in Chinese Porcelain, London, Vol.I, nos. 360 and 361; another illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.II, London, 1994, no.889; and another example in Chinese Porcelain: The S.C.Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, vol.I, no.81.

A single bowl of this design from the Inder Rieden Collection, Kangxi mark and of the period, was sold in these rooms, 10 November 2011, lot 76.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, London, New Bond Street, 15 May 2014 -http://www.bonhams.com/