Lot 3258. A ruby-ground famille-rose 'Flower' bowl, Yuzhi mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 9.2 cm., 3 5/8  in. Estimate 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,240,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013.

with shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, finely enamelled around the exterior with a variety of floral sprays clustered around the narrow footring, including peony, hibiscus, exotic lily, chrysanthemum, camellia, and aster, all reserved on a deep ruby-red ground, the interior and the base left white, the base further inscribed in underglaze blue with a four-character reign mark within double squares.

Note: This exquisitely enamelled pair of bowls belongs to a small group of wares made for the use of the Yongzheng emperor and bears the Yongzheng yuzhi marks. Two bowls of this design can be found in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and are illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Fine Enamelled Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty: Yung-cheng Period, bk. II, Hong Kong, 1967, pls 34-35. Another similar bowl, in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 5; one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is published in Rose Kerr, Chinese Art and Design, London, 1992, pl. 92 (right); a third from the T.Y. Chao collection was sold in these rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 130, and again, 5th November 1996, lot 87; and a pair of bowls was sold in these rooms, 9thOctober 2007, lot 1508.

This design is based on a Kangxi prototype and remained popular until the end of the Qing dynasty. In the Kangxi period the bowls were, however, of different form and the design was reserved on a coral-red ground. A pair of Kangxi bowls of flared shape, from the T.Y. Chao collection was sold in these rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 303, of which one of them is illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelains], Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 379.

Only from the Yongzheng period onwards does this design appear on bowls of the present shape and with the enamels reserved on a ruby ground. One bowl of another pair of Yongzheng pieces, sold in these rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 163, is illustrated in Sotheby's Hong Kong, Twenty Years: 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 221, together with a Jiaqing version of the same pattern, pl. 222.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2013