Lot 3016. A very rare moulded lemon-yellow enamelled floral-form bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735), 8 1/8 in. (20.7 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 1,500,000 - HKD 2,500,000 (USD 193,452 - USD 322,419) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The exterior is finely moulded with a band of lobed petal lappets above the short straight foot ring, the flared sides formed by swirling and overlapping broad mallow-flower petals continuing to the lobed mouth rim, the interior is moulded to conform with the exterior, applied overall with a rich opaque lemon-yellow enamel, the concave base in a transparent glaze bearing the reign mark.

Provenance: Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 October 2003, lot 703

Note: It is very rare to find a monochrome moulded bowl in this size from the Yongzheng period, as most other examples are around 15 cm. in diametre. Only one other large example in this dimension appears to have been published, which is covered in a lime-green enamel and sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2003, lot 3134. Smaller examples include a pair in lemon-yellow enamel (15.2 cm. diam.) from the E.T. Hall collection, sold at Christie’s London, 7th June 2004, lot 277; one in lime-green enamel (15.5 cm), published in Rose Kerr, Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p. 92, pl. 66; and a white-glazed bowl (15.5 cm.) in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum], vol. 1, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 96. 

Other close variants bearing similar moulded design from this period include a white-glazed wine cup moulded with longer petals on the upper tier with incised details, illustrated in The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette, Qing Ceramics from the Collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, p. 101, cat. no. 58; and a pair of yellow-enamelled dishes sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 October 2001, lots 802 and 803. 

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall