Lot 134. A gilt-decorated blue and white bowl, Qing dynasty, 18th century. Diameter 6⅝ in., 16.8 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 USD. Lot sold: 18,900 USD. © Sotheby's 2021

resting on a straight foot and rising to a gently everted rim, the interior with a central medallion painted in underglaze blue with a lotus pond encircled by diaper border, the cavetto with a gilt foliate scroll beneath a further blue and white diaper band, the exterior painted with a stylized scroll issuing broad leaves, the rim with a band of double helix accented with gilt dots in the negative space, the cobalt designs at the interior and exterior executed with stippled and cross-hatched details, the base with a four-character hall mark reading Caixiutang zhi within a double circle in underglaze blue.

Note: See a closely related bowl recently sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 26th May 2021, lot 355. For a Ming dynasty prototype of this design, compare one illustrated in Minji meihin zuroku Kōbu-yō, Eiraku-yō, Sentoku-yō [lllustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains. Hongwu, Yongle and Xuande wares], Tokyo, 1977, pl. 106. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 September 2021