Lot 3643. A fine and brilliantly enamelled black-ground famille-rose bowl, Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng Period (1723-1735); 7 cm., 2 3/4  in. Estimate 150,000 — 200,000 HKD. Lot Sold 750,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

delicately potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short straight foot, the exterior elaborately painted with a composite floral meander, the green leafy scroll issuing green curling leaves, interspersed with iron-red leaves and multi-coloured floral blossoms enamelled in blue, aubergine, yellow, pink and green, all reserved on a black ground.

Note: For a Yongzheng-reign marked example of this rare group of black-ground famille-rose decorated bowls, see an example from the Alfred Beit Foundation, sold in our London rooms, 6th November, 2013, lot 77. See also a bowl from the Charles Russell collection, illustrated in R.L. Hobson et. al., Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections, London, 1931, pl. 347; and another included in the exhibition The Barbara Hutton Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, 1956, pl. XIIIa.