A fine Famille-Rose 'Flowers and Butterfly' bowl, Seal mark and period of Qianlong. Photo: Sotheby's

finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a narrow foot to an everted rim, finely painted with sprays of bamboo and a branch of flowering and fruiting balsam pear, extending sinuously along the side and climbing over the rim onto the interior of the cup, two of the fruits bursting open revealing their seeds, all finely enamelled in pastels of pink and yellow with iron-red details, the leaves carefully shaded in tones of green, the interior and the exterior picked out with two fluttering butterflies, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark; 11.2 cm., 4 3/8 in. Estimation 200,000 — 300,000 HKD - Lot. Vendu 400,000 HKD

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17th May 1989, lot 303.
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A pair of bowls of this type, from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, is published in Illustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Enamelled Wares, London, 1958, pl. 897; a bowl in the Musee Guimet, Paris, is included in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, col. 7, Tokyo, 1981, col. pl. 91; another is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, col. II, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 660. Compare also a pair of Qianlong bowls of this decoration sold in our rooms, 8th April 2011, lot 3086, and another in our London rooms, 6th November 2013, lot 78, from the collection of Sir Alfred Beit (1903-1994).

A pair of bowls of this type, from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, is published in Illustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Enamelled Wares, London, 1958, pl. 897; a bowl in the Musee Guimet, Paris, is included inOriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, col. 7, Tokyo, 1981, col. pl. 91; another is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, col. II, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 660. Compare also a pair of Qianlong bowls of this decoration sold in our rooms, 8th April 2011, lot 3086, and another in our London rooms, 6th November 2013, lot 78, from the collection of Sir Alfred Beit (1903-1994).

Sotheby's. Playthings From The Collection of Edward T. Chow - Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Collections -Chinese Art Through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor - Asian Lacquer. Hong Kong | 27 mai 2014 - http://www.sothebys.com/