Lot 42. A blue and white 'Romance of the West Chamber' bowl, Chenghua six-character mark, Kangxi period (1662-1722);  19.3cm (7 5/8in) diam. Sold for £10,000 (€12,690). © Bonhams 2001-2016.

Finely painted in vivid underglaze blue with a continuous scene of three ladies within a walled pavilion visible from a large circular window, under the plantain leaves two men by the wall look across to a military general brandishing a halberd on horseback followed by an attendant carrying a flag, in the distance a tent with banners and spears, the interior painted with a languid scholar leaning on a bundle of scrolls, gazing into the distant landscape beneath wispy clouds.

Provenance: a distinguished Belgian private collection 

Notes: On the exterior is an inscription which reads:

孤孀子母無投奔,
赤緊的先亡過了我有福之人。
耳邊金鼓連天震

This may be translated as:  

'Orphan and widow, child and mother, we've nowhere to flee.
Truly, he who passed away first turned out to be the lucky one!
Within earshot, gongs and drums quake to the heavens.'

The scene is from the 'Romance of the West Chamber' (Xixiang ji 西廂記), vol II, act I. In the play, as depicted on the present bowl, the bandit Flying Tiger Sun sealed off the temple gate with five thousand troops in attempt to capture the beautiful lady Yingying trapped inside. Yingying's mother agreed that whoever could defeat and drive away the bandit general could have Yingying's hand in marriage. The hero, scholar Zhang Sheng, manages to get help from General Du and the bandits were forced to retreat. See S.West and W.Idema, The Story of the Western Wing, Berkeley, 1995, p.153.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23237: FINE CHINESE ART, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET