A very fine yellow and green enamelled 'boys' bowl. Mark and period of Yongzheng. Photo: Courtesy Sotheby's

with full rounded rising from a slightly tapered foot to a flared rim, the exterior exquisitely incised with a continuous scene of boys at play in a balustraded garden, some playing the drums or the cymbals, others simply waving toys, with two pine trees dividing the scene and the swirling waters of a lake beyond, all between a border of lappets at the base and a stylised floral border at the rim, the designs picked out in brilliant apple-green enamel against a yellow ground - 15cm., 5 7/8 in. - Lot Sold:  740,000 HKD

NOTE: A Yongzheng bowl of this design is illustrated in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 103; and another in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, no. 895. John Ayers illustrates a similar piece together with a Jiajing prototype of this design in The Bauer Collection Geneva, Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-72, vol. 2, no. A 166 and vol. 4, nos A540 and 541.

Compare a similar bowl from the Hall Family Collection, sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 535; and another sold in these rooms, 9th October 2007, lot 1610.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 08 Oct 08. Hong Kong - www.sothebys.com