Lot 1. A rare famille-rose 'poppy' bowl, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Diameter 9.2 cm, 3⅝ in. Estimate: 50,000 - 70,000 GBP. Lot sold 212,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.

finely potted, the rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the exterior delicately enamelled with flowering poppies in shaded tones of pink and white with finely incised details, and one in iron-red, all borne on slender bristled stems naturalistically meandering around the body and issuing leaves in tones of bluish and yellowish-green, the interior painted with three flower heads, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a circle.

Note: This charming bowl belongs to a small group of wares finely enamelled with brightly coloured stems of poppies against a pure white porcelain body. This elegant and restrained motif appears to have been inspired by famille-verte cups of the Kangxi period (r. 1662-1722), which were sparsely decorated with branches of flowers or fruits. Bowls of this type display an increased interest in the pureness of the porcelain body and a greater emphasis on the naturalistic rendering of flowers, made possible by the development of the enamels of the famille-rose palette.

Bowls painted with this motif of poppies are held in important museums and private collections worldwide; a bowl from the collection of Sir Percival David, now in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Rosemary Scott, Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Ware in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1991, pl. 821; another example from the Guy Mayer collection is illustrated in Warren Cox, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, vol. II, New York, 1946, fig. 871; a pair from the collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd November 1998, lot 961; and a further bowl, included in the exhibition Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Christie's London, 1993, cat. no. 89, was sold in these rooms, 12th June 1990, lot 322.