Lot 3702. A fine yellow and green 'boys' bowl, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 14.9 cm., 5 7/8  in. Estimate 700,000 - 900,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,060,000 HKD (108,104 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

finely potted with full rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot to a flared rim, the exterior incised with a continuous scene of boys at play in a balustraded garden, some playing the drums or the cymbals, others simply waving toys, with two pine trees dividing the scene and the swirling waters of a lake beyond, all between a border of upright lappets at the base and a stylised floral border at the rim, the designs picked out in brilliant apple-green against a yellow ground, the interior glazed yellow, the countersunk base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark.

Provenance: A North American private collection.
Sotheby's New York, 23rd March 1998, lot 680.

Note: Yellow-ground bowls decorated in green enamel with children at play are held in important museum and private collections worldwide; for example, see a bowl in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, included in the Museum’s exhibition The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 56; a pair illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 944; one in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 2, 1994, pl. 895; another published in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 103; and a fifth bowl of slightly larger size, in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 62. Three further bowls were sold in these rooms, the first from the Goldschmidt collection, 13th November 1990, the second from the Hall family collection, 2nd May 2000, lot 535, and the third, 9th October 2007, lot 1610.

Yongzheng mark and period bowls of this type, which are also known from the Kangxi period (1661-1722), were inspired by Ming (1368-1644) prototypes. Soame Jenyns in Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, notes that reproductions of these wares is mentioned on the list of porcelain supplied to the court, compiled in 1729 by Tang Ying (1682-1756), the future director of the Jingdezhen Imperial kilns (see p. 103). A Jiajing prototype of closely related design, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. Chia Ch’ing Ware, Lung Ch’ing Ware, Wan Li Ware, vol. 3, Tokyo, 1978, pl. 48; another of slightly larger size in the Musée Guimet, Paris, is published in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, fig. 77. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 october 2014