Lot 1946. A fine pair of 'famille-rose' bowls, seal marks and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820); 10.9 cm., 4 1/4 in. Est. 350,000 — 450,000 HKD. Lot Sold 620,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's 2010

each with deep rounded sides flaring sharply at the rim, finely painted with a fruiting and flowering gourd vine entwining around a spray of bamboo attended by two butterflies, the four large bitter melons with their skins delicately picked out in yellow, pink and green, two of the ripe fruit with skin bursting open to reveal the orange flesh inside, the design climbing over the rim and continuing into the well.

Note: For an extensive discussion of the depicted fruit, see Ka Bo Tsang, 'An Unusual Botanical Motif: The Bitter-sweet Kugua', Orientations, October, 1993, pp 64-7, where figs 1 a-b, a Qianlong example in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, is illustrated. In the former article Tsang also notes (p. 67) that the symbolic meaning of the composition of the decoration in the guoqianzhi (branch over a wall) manner, revoking the expression changzhi (long reign), is the wish for a long and prosperous reign.

Compare a Daoguang bowl of this design sold in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 812.

 Sotheby's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2010