Lot 3994. A fine and very rare coral-ground famille rose bowl, Qianlong six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 4 3/8 in. (11 cm.) diam. Estimate 900,000 - HKD 1,200,000. Price realised HKD 1,940,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.

The bowl is finely enamelled with three lemon-yellow ground cartouches, each enclosing a broad blossoming peony framed by foliate scrolls, connected by the slender stems bearing four smaller blue flowerheads amidst further leafy foliage, delineated in black and in shades of green and whitish-cream.

Provenance: The British Rail Pension Fund, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 81
The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong
The Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 584
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2007, lot 802.

Literature: The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 167

Note: Although this pattern became quite popular in the 19th century, particularly in the Jiaqing, Daoguang and Guangxu periods, Qianlong bowls of this pattern are extremely rare and no other example appears to have been published, with exception of a Qianlong-marked bowl sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 5 November 1997, lot 956. An earlier Yongzheng-marked Yuzhi bowl of this design, but in famille verte enamels, from the Stephen Junkunc III Collection, was offered in Christie's New York, 21 September 1995, lot 200.

For a Jiaqing-marked bowl, see the example from the Weishaupt Collection, illustrated by G. Avitabile, From the Dragon's Treasure, London, 1987, no. 28, together with a Guangxu example, no. 29.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale,  Hong Kong, 30 May 2012