Lot 1926. A pair of copper-red decorated 'phoenix' bowls, Qianlong six-character seal marks and of the period (1736-1795); 5 3/4 in. (14.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 500,000. Price Realized HKD 750,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Each bowl has deep rounded sides rising to an everted rim decorated on the exterior with five phoenix roundels executed in soft copper-red with speckles of apple green to the wings. The centre of the interior with a similar phoenix roundel.

Note: The design on these bowls is based on a Kangxi prototype such as the smaller bowl included in the National Palace Museum, Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain, Taipei, 1986, Catalogue, no. 7; sold at Christie's New York, 21 September 1995, lot 220.

A pair of Qianlong-marked bowls similar to the present examples in the Edward T. Chow Collection is illustrated by Chow and Drake, 'Kuan-Yao and Min-Yao', Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, XIII, 1959, pl. XVIII, fig. 3. An example from the Jingguantang Collection was sold at Christie's New York, 18 September 1997, lot 166. Another similar bowl was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1553.

Christie's. In Pursuit of Refinement - A Legacy of the YC Chen Collection, Hong Kong, 29 May 2013