Lot 3086. A fine pair of 'famille-rose' bowls, seal marks and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 15.7 cm., 6 1/4 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Lot Sold 3,620,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the deep rounded sides flaring sharply at the rim, finely painted with a fruiting and flowering passion fruits entwining around a spray of bamboo attended by two butterflies, the four large fruits with their skins delicately picked out in yellow, pink and green, the design climbing over the rim and continuing in the interior, the base inscribed with a seal six-character mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 17th November 1999, lot 764.

Note: Two similar Qianlong bowls from a pair in the Percival David Foundation, London, are published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Enamelled Wares, London, 1958, no. 897, and in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, no. 274; for one in the Musee Guimet, Paris, see op.cit., vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, col.pl. 91; another is included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, vol.II, Tokyo, 1990, no. 660. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2011