Lot 3223. A Famille-Rose Sgraffiato Ruby-Ground ‘Lantern Festival’ Bowl, Qianlong Period (1736-1795). D 17.3cm. Estimate HKD 120,000 - 200,000 (USD 15,385 - 25,641). Sold Price: HKD 180,000 (USD 23,077). Copyright 2021 © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

The bowl has deep, rounded sides that rise to a slightly flared rim and is decorated on the exterior with four medallions of 'Lanterns of Abundance', feng deng. Each medallion contains an elegant grouping of precious objects, including various vases and lanterns, a jade belt buckle, a gilt incense burner, a ruyi and was divided by foliate sprays of full and half-blossoming flowers on scrolling leafy stems, all on a rich ruby-ground finely incised with a scroll pattern. The interior is decorated in underglaze blue with a stylized flower head below four ribbon-tied lanterns.

Provenance: 1. Collection of Alfred E. Guntermann (1943-2013)
2. Christie's New York, 14 September 2014, lot 880
3. Collection of Chamber of Young Snow, Hong Kong.

Note: Another bowl of this design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl.216. A similar pair of bowls from the collection of Edward T. Chow was sold twice in Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 19th May 1981, lot 595, and 28th April 1998, lot 841.

A very similar bowl also with lanterns and precious objects in the medallions, but with a Daoguang mark, from the collection of Dr. S.Y.Kwan, was included in the exhibition Joined Colors, Washington D.C., 1993, p.131, no.58; and another described as having a 'purple ground' is illustrated by Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Hong Kong, 1993, p.300, pl.507.

Poly Auctions.Imperial Treasures: A Selection of Qing Imperial Porcelains, Hong Kong, 21 April 2021