Lot 638. A yellow-glazed bowl, Qianlong seal mark and period (1736-1795). Diameter 7 1/4  in., 18.6 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Lot sold 52,500 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the deep rounded sides sweeping to an everted rim, covered overall in a rich egg yolk-yellow glaze, the recessed base glazed white and inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Collection of Lorant (1900-1990) and Vera (1916-1999) Goldschlager, coll. no. 37. 
Christie's Hong Kong, 30th April 2001, lot 670.
Marchant, London, March 2002.

Exhibited: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, 2012-2019 (on loan). 

Literature: Karen Thomson, ed., The Blema and H. Arnold Steinberg Collection, Montreal, 2015, pl. 148.

Note: Sumptuary laws permitted only the Emperor, Empress, or Dowager Empress to use wares glazed yellow on both the interior and exterior. Such a hue owes its color to the low amount of iron oxide present. Similar Qianlong-marked bowls, albeit slightly smaller, were offered in these rooms, 1st-2nd April 1974, lot 266, and 4th December 1984, lot 357.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 11 september 2019