Lot 124. A famille verte incised susancai bowl, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722); 15cm diam. Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000. Sold for HK$ 62,500 (€5,910). Photo: Bonhams 2014

Potted with deep rounded sides rising to a flared rim, the exterior incised with two dragons, both in pursuit of flaming pearls, the design concealed below enamelling in yellow, aubergine, pale blue and green of blossoming branches over the dragons and butterflies over the flaming pearls, the interior glazed white. 

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 15 September 2010, lot 242 (one of the pair)

Note: The double decoration as seen on the present lot of combining incised dragons under floral sprays depicted in bright tri-coloured enamels, is unusual and is only found on a selected group of bowls and plates iconic to the Kangxi period. The shape of the bowl with such decorations as depicted by the present lot, is the only type with susancai decoration known today. It is pleasing to note the care at which the two apparently unrelated motifs are layered one above another, with the dragons carefully concealed beneath the overlapping floral sprays.

See a similar bowl housed in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains, Plain Triculoured Porcelains,Shanghai, 2009, p.272, pl.221. See also another pair in the British Museum, London, illustrated by S.Vainker inChinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 2005, pl.154; another pair in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Gulland in Chinese Porcelain, London, Vol.I, no.360 and 361. For examples in private collections, see an example in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol.II, London, 1994, pl.889; another in the Tianminlou collection, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain: The S.C.Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, Vol.I, no.81.

Compare with a related bowl sold in our London Rooms, 10 November 2011, lot 76. Such decoration is also found on corresponding saucer dishes enamelled with pomegranates such as the one sold in our London Rooms, 10 November 2011, lot 77. See also another two identical bowls from the George Eumorfopoulos collection (label no.862 and no.863), previously illustrated by R.L.Hobson, The Catalogue of the George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1927, Vol.V, pl.XXXXVIII, no.E.200 (illustrated top right) and pl.XXXXVIII, no.E.200 (illustrated top left), offered in our London rooms, 15 May 2014, lot 75 and 76.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, Hong Kong, Admiralty, 26 May 2014