Lot 43. A blue and white 'luohan' bowl, Jiajing six-character mark, circa 1660; 14.6cm (5 3/4in) diam. Estimate £2,000 - 3,000 (€2,800 - 4,200). Sold for £ 5,000 (€ 5,710). Photo Bonhams.

With gently rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim, painted in shades of underglaze blue to the exterior with four luohans seated on lotus blossoms encircled by a mandorla, alternated with four characters reading 'A Mi Tuo Fo', or Amitabha, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a character reading 'Shan', or righteousness. 

Provenance: a distinguished European Private Collection

Note: Compare with a blue and white bowl in the Shanghai Museum, Shunzhi period with very similar designs of Buddhist figures and characters, illustrated in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collections, Shanghai, 2005, pl.47.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 12 Nov 2015 10:00 GMT - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET