Lot 3725. A rare inscribed blue and white 'Figures' bowl, Mark and period of Longqing (1567-1572); 11.5 cm., 4 1/2  in. Estimate  300,000 — 400,000  HKD. Lot sold 525,000 HKD (62,401 EUR). © Sotheby's

well potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to a flared rim, the interior centred with a medallion enclosing an elegantly seated women patting the head of a child on a terrace, the inner rim bordered with detached floral scrolls, the exterior inscribed in cursive script with a four-line poem, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark.

Note: This extremely rare bowl is the precise counterpart to another Longqing reign-marked blue and white bowl in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated by Stacey Pierson, Blue and White for China: Porcelain Treasures in the Percival David Collection, London, 2004, p. 90, no. 37 (PDF 622). Compare also a related example with similar calligraphic mark in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 2010.59, gift of the Vincent Astor Foundation, illustrated online and on view in gallery 204.  

Blue and white bowl with inscription, Ming dynasty, Longqing mark and period, AD 1567–1572. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF 622 © Trustees of the British Museum

Bowl with inscription, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Longqing mark and period (1567–72). Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware). H. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm); Diam. of rim: 4 11/16 in. (11.9 cm); Diam. of foot: 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm). Purchase, The Vincent Astor Foundation Gift, 2010, accession number 2010.59. © 2000–2019 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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