Lot 162. A fine pair of famille-rose enamelled yellow sgraffiato ground 'Ram' medallion bowls, Daoguang seal marks and period (1821-1850); 14.7cm, 5 3/4 in. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 GBP. Lot sold 62,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's

each body with deep rounded sides rising from a short straight foot to a slightly everted rim, finely enamelled around the exterior with three medallions each enclosing a ram, all reserved on a bright yellow sgraffiato ground and divided by precious objects, the interior painted in underglaze-blue with a medallion enclosing three rams and encircled in the well by four leafy floral sprays, the base with a seal mark in underglaze-blue.

Note: This pair of bowls is notable for the sensitively rendered motif of three rams in landscape. While bowls decorated in famille-rose enamels with medallions enclosing various scenes reserved on a coloured sgraffiato ground were made at the Jingdezhen kilns from as early as the Qianlong period (1735-1796), those decorated with three rams became increasingly popular in the Daoguang period (1821-1850).

A closely related bowl from the Ohlmer collection in the Roemer Museum, Hildesheim, is illustrated in Ulrich Wiesner, Chinesisces Porzellan, Mainz, 1981, cat. no. 143; another is illustrated in W.G. Gulland, Chinese Porcelain, London, 1911, vol. 1, pl. 404; a pair was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th November 1996, lot 895, another pair was sold in our New York rooms, 26th March 1996, lot 216; and a further bowl was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 542, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st May 2010.

For the prototype of this design, compare a pair of Jiaqing mark and period bowls from the T.Y. Chao collection, illustrated in Michel Beurdeley and Guy Reindre, Qing Porcelain, London, 1987, pl. 242, and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th May 1981, lot 594.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 13 may 2015