Lot 3677. A fine pair of blue and white bowls with lança characters, Marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 9.3 cm., 3 5/8  in.  Estimate  500,000 — 800,000  HKD. Lot sold 625,000 HKD (74,287 EUR). © Sotheby's

each potted with steep rounded sides resting on a short foot, the exterior decorated with six evenly spaced lança characters, each supported on a lotus bloom, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double-square, stands.

Provenance: G.T. Marsh and Company, San Francisco, 1971.
A private West Coast collection.

Notes: A closely related bowl was included in the exhibition Treasures of Imperial Porcelain. Official Kiln Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty Collected by Hangzhou Tu Huo Zhai Museum of Antique Ceramics, Hangzhou, 2011, cat. no. 44. See also two pairs sold in these rooms, the first 31st October 1974, lot 208, and 15th May 1990, lot 136.

This design appears to have been inspired by Chenghua originals; compare a Chenghua mark and period cup, similarly painted with lança characters on lingzhi sprigs, excavated from the waste heaps of the Ming Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, included in the exhibition The Emperor’s broken china. Reconstructing Chenghua Porcelain, Sotheby’s, London, 1995.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Works of Art, Hong Kong, 07 april 2015