Lot 3117. A fine Famille-Rose 'Balsam Pear' bowl, Seal Mark and Period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 11.2 cm, 4 1/2  in . Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot sold 500,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

the with deep rounded sides rising from a straight foot to an everted rim, finely enamelled with a balsam pear vine twisting around the exterior suspending ripe fruit bursting with seeds and issuing verdant leaves and pale yellow blossoms, bamboo shoots rising to one side of the vine and a butterfly fluttering nearby, the motif repeated on the interior, the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Note: A pair of bowls of this type, from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Catalogue of Ch’ing Enamelled Wares, London, 1958, pl. 897; a bowl in the Musée Guimet, Paris, is published in Oriental Ceramics. The World Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 91; another is published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1980, pl. 660; and a further pair of bowls, from the Alfred Beit Foundation, was sold in our London rooms, 6th November 2013, lot 78.