Lot 932. Property from the Dawentang Collection. A pair of famille rose ‘Melon and Butterfly’ bowls, Qianlong six-character seal marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795). One: 10.8 cm diam. The other: 11 cm diam. Price realised HKD 889,000 (Estimate HKD 700,000 – HKD 900,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: One: Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2007, lot 1519

Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1927

The other: Sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1987, lot 191

Sold at Christie's New York, 25 March 2011, lot 1703

Literature: Chinese Ceramics from the Dawentang Collection, Vol. II, Hong Kong, 2019, pp.512-515, nos.97-98

Exhibited: The Capital Museum, Treasures of Hong Kong: The 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Handover, Beijing, 2017, cat. no. 185

Note: Each bowl is delicately enamelled with fruiting and flowering melon vine and bamboo which continue over the rim into the interior. The ripe melons burst open to show the red seeds, with a pink butterfly in flight.

Compare to a very similar bowl from the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty – the Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.218. A pair of bowls previously from Sir Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum and illustrated by Rosemary Scott, Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Ware in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1991, no.898.

Christie's. Pearls of The Orient - Treasures from Hong Kong Private Collectors, Hong Kong, 40 April 2026