Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art. 9 October 2020
A rare iron-red 'immortals' bowl, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722)
Lot 3638. A rare iron-red 'Immortals' bowl, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 17.2 cm, 6 ¾ in. Estimate: 300,000 - 400,000 HKD. Lot sold 302,400HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
superbly painted in shaded tones with immortals, an attendant and two deer, one immortal portrayed holding a double-gourd from which a crane emerges, with details further picked out in black, the base with an underglaze-blue six-character reign mark, Japanese wood box.
Provenance: Collection of Emile Mancel (1831-1909), French consul stationed in Beijing, Macau and Hong Kong.
Note: Bowls of this form enamelled with large figures are rare. Another example, possibly the pair to this bowl, is illustrated in Recent Acquisitions, Marchant, London, 2006, cat. no. 11. A closely related but unmarked bowl from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, no. 47. Emile Mancel (1831-1909) was a French high official stationed in Beijing, Macau and Hong Kong and recipient of the Gold Dragon Medal. In 1862 he was appointed as an Honorary Consul in Canton (modern day Guangzhou). His letters state that he purchased his porcelain from other French officers while in China.