Lot 1577. A fine and very rare blue and white 'fruit' bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period (1723-1735); 11.5 in. (29.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,927,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2008.

The bowl is potted with characteristic thick and well rounded sides, painted with cobalt of sapphire-blue tones on the exterior with mixed flower scrolls, the six blooms including lotus, peony, camellia and chrysanthemum, below a border of breaking waves around the rim, the foot encircled with classic scroll, the underglaze-blue with simulated 'heaped and piled' effect, the reign mark written in a single line in a double-rectangular frame beneath the mouth rim.

Provenance: The T.Y Chao Private and Family Trust Collections of Important Chinese Ceramics and Jade Carvings, Part II, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 May 1987, lot 273.
The T. T. Tsui Collection.

Note: It is very unusual to find a Yongzheng bowl of this type painted with a variety of flowers around the sides and with naturalistic wave and classic scroll borders closely following Ming designs.

For the inspiration of this design with thickly potted bowls of the Ming dynasty Xuande period, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, Part 2, CAFA, 1963, p. 120, pl. 41, decorated with a peony scroll; p. 122, pl. 44, with a lingzhi scroll; and p. 124, pl. 46, a lotus scroll. Compare also a Xuande-marked bowl with a lotus scroll on the exterior, offered in the Important Ceramics and Works of Art sale, Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1847.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale including Elegance and Artistry. Treasures from a Private Collection, Hong Kong, 27 May 2008