A famille verte 'Cranes' bowl, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Diameter 6 1/4  in., 16 cm. Estimate 12,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 15,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

rising from a short straight foot to rounded sides with a galleried rim, enameled on the exterior with three cranes in flight interspersed with fruiting and flowering peach branches, all below a band of keyfret encircling the rim, the interior with a further peach sprig in the center, apocryphal six-character Chenghua reign mark in underglaze blue within a double circle, Japanese wood box and cover (3). 

Note: See three closely related bowls in museum collections. The first illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai, 1998, pl. 101; the second, in the Qing court collection illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours. Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 17; and the third, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, accession no. C.42-1949.

See another bowl with almost identical decoration sold in our London rooms, 27th November 1973, lot 330.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 15 sept. 2015