Lot 3120. A rare pair of doucai ‘chrysanthemum medallion’ bowls, Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue within double squares and of the period (1723-1735). Estimate HK$2,600,000 - HK$3,500,000 ($337,054 - $453,726). Price Realized HK$5,920,000 ($767,445). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

Each is delicately decorated on the exterior with five chrysanthemum medallions comprising three large blooms amid leafy tendrils, divided by lotus sprigs, finely enamelled in iron red on the interior with five bats in flight. 4 3/8 in. (11.9 cm.) diam

Provenance: Offered at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, lot 906

Notes: While bowls with similar decorations are known, it is extremely rare to find an example decorated to the interior with iron-red bats, as with the current pair of bowls.

A small number of similar bowls without interior decoration are published, such as the pair in the Tianminlou Collection illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1987, no. 100; a pair exhibited in Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1992, no. 173; and a smaller pair from the Edward Chow Collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 132.

Christie's. IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 2 December 2015, Convention Hall