Lot 3180. A small famille-verte and anhua decorated 'Three fish' cup, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 8.1 cm., 3 1/8 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD (39,143 — 58,715 EUR). Lot sold 1,100,000 HKD (107,644 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

delicately potted, the steep sides rising from a small tapering foot to a flared rim, painted around the exterior with three long-tailed fish finely detailed in shaded tones as if they were swimming amidst clear waters, evenly spaced and interspersed with green pondweed, the interior decorated in anhua with a dragon and a phoenix, the recessed base inscribed in underglaze blue with an apocryphal six-character Chenghua mark within a double-square.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 6th July 1971, lot 171.
Collection of Edward T. Chow.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1981, lot 569.
A private Japanese collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2006, lot 1033.

Literature: Selected Works of Ancient Chinese Art, Bronze, Sculpture, Ceramics, 'Three Thousand Years of China: The Beauty of Beauty', Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1973, cat. no. 80.

Note: Bowls of this form are rare although another pair painted with very similar pattern, from the collection of Winston Guest, was sold in our New York rooms, 2nd December 1967, lot 90. A pair of bowls of more shallow shape but with related decoration, from the Collection of H.M. Knight and included in the exhibition Oosterse Schatten, 4000 Jaar Aziatische Kunst, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1954, cat. no. 359, was sold in our London rooms, 12th May 1970.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Hong Kong, 04 Apr 2012