Lot 3190. A fine famille-rose yellow-ground 'Floral ' bowl. Mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 15 cm., 5 7/8 in. Estimate 2,500,000-3,000,000 HKD (244,645 — 293,574 EUR). Lot sold 3,140,000 HKD (307,274 EUR). Photo Sotheby's

well potted with curved sides rising from a slightly tapering foot to a flaring rim, the interior painted with five bats in shaded tones of coral red, the exterior densely painted with stylised western-style lotus, hollyhock, anemone, lily, carnation, and narcissus, all borne on stylised leafy scrolls with further florets reserved on a bright yellow ground, the underside inscribed in regular script in underglaze blue with a three-column six-character mark.

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's London, 19th June 1984, lot 366 (one of a pair).
S. Marchant & Son Ltd., London, April 2006.

NOTE: A bowl of this design in the Nanjing Museum was included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 101; another in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 6. Compare also another Qianlong bowl of this design sold in these rooms, 27th April, 2003, lot 190, and another sold 10th April 2006, lot 1742. It is very rare to find bowls of this type to have a mark written in regular script.

 Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. Hong Kong | 04 avr. 2012