A fine famille-rose 'Flower-Ball' bowl, Seal mark and period of Daoguang. Photo: Sotheby's.

the rounded sides rising from a straight foot to an everted rim, finely decorated around the exterior with a profusion of multi-coloured 'flower-balls' arranged asymmetrically and scattered throughout, some freely floating, others overlapping in small clusters of two or three blooms, all carefully enamelled in soft pastels against a white ground, the base inscribed in iron-red with a six-character seal mark; diameter 13.5 cm., 5 1/4  in. Estimation 120,000 — 150,000 HKD (11,769 - 14,711 EUR)

Provenance: Collection formed before the 1930s in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. 

Elegant abstracted floral decoration on fine white porcelain of this type can be credited to the Yongzheng emperor. His interest in Japanese works of art coupled with a bold search for new styles and porcelain aesthetics is reflected in this fresh and innovative design. By the Qianlong period this motif became fully incorporated into the decorative repertoire of a variety of materials and in porcelain it was produced in both the doucai and famille rose palettes. The latter version is particularly enchanting, as seen in the present bowl, as it evokes early blossoms in spring scattered over fresh snow. 

Compare Daoguang bowls of more flared form and with an iron red jing si tang zhihallmark on the base; for example three were sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 20th March 1990, lot 808, another, 19th March 1991, lot 610, and the third, 29th September 1992, lot 590. See also a blue and white vase decorated with a similar design and a ribbon, in the Nanjing Museum, published in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 392. For a Yongzheng prototype in thedoucai palette, see two small bowls from the Meiyintang collection, sold in these rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 6.