Lot 2910. A fine Famille Rose and doucai 'Floral' conical bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1723-1735); 9 5/8 in. (24.4 cm.) diam. Estimate HK$2,800,000 - HK$4,000,000 ($362,804 - $518,291). Price Realized HK$3,640,000 ($471,535). © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

The finely potted bowl is of flaring, conical shape with a slightly rim. The exterior is delicately enamelled in soft pastel tones of pink, aubergine, yellow, red and green and outlined in underglaze-blue with four floral medallions, depicting the flowers of the four seasons, peony, lotus, chrysanthemum and prunus separated by a repeating design of stylised amphorae supported on foliate scrolls in red, green and yellow. The well is finely detailed with a pair of butterflies in flight over two floral sprigs within single and double-line borders. 

Provenance: Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 2 May 1994, lot 690

Exhibited: Eskenazi, Chinese porcelain from the 15th to 18th century, London, 2006, Catalogue, no. 12

Note: This exquisite bowl is distinguished by the delicate combination of the doucai technique and famille rose palette, creating a pleasant contrast between the underglaze-blue outline and soft pastel colours within. This combination was an innovation during the Yongzheng period, and the current bowl is a representative example rendered in this novel technique.

A number of Yongzheng bowls of identical size and decoration are preserved in important museum and private collections. A similar bowl is illustrated in Porcelain in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 38, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 250, no. 229. An example from the Chang Foundation is included in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, no. 141. An identical bowl in the Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art and Archaeology, University of Durham, is illustrated by I. L. Legeza in A Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Malcolm MacDonald Collection of Chinese Ceramics, London, 1972, pl. CXXXIX, no. 378. Another example was included in exhibition Chinese porcelain from the 15th to the 18th century, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2006, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 12.

Other examples sold at auction include one sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 2113; one sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2011, lot 4008; and the bowl from the Paul and Helen Bernat Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 April 2001, lot 552.

Christie's. Imperial Chinese Treasures from a Distinguished American Collection, Hong Kong, 28 May 2014