Lot 3637. A fine ruby-ground famille-rose sgraffiato medallion bowl, Seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820); 15.1 cm. Estimate: 500,000 - 700,000 HKD. Lot sold: 604,800 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

enamelled on the exterior with four medallions of fruiting and flowering branches, interrupted by floral strapwork against a bright ruby ground incised with feather arabesques, the interior painted in cobalt blue with a basket of peaches surrounded by floral branches, the base with a six-character seal mark.

Provenance: An English private collection, Yorkshire.

Literature: Recent Acquisitions 2009, S. Marchant & Son Ltd, London, 2009, cat. no. 44.

Note: Bowls of this design, finely enamelled with medallions enclosing lanterns on an ornately decorated ruby ground, were pioneered in the Qianlong period and grew in popularity in the succeeding Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns. The sophistication of bowls of this type is achieved through the intricate sgraffiato ground and the fusion of Western painting techniques with traditional Chinese motifs. The flowers adorning the ruby ground, masterfully rendered in various tones to create a naturalistic effect, reveal the influence of Jesuit painters at court, while the medallions contain auspicious lanterns, a motif that forms a homonym for ‘good harvest’ (fengdeng). These medallions resemble windows and create a sense of three-dimensionality, an effect that is reinforced through the textured and almost brocade-like tactility of the sgraffiato technique, a complicated and laborious method of needle-point etching. 

Bowls of this type are more commonly known with a Daoguang seal mark and of the period; for example, see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 216; one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 281; another from the collection of Simon Kwan, included in the exhibition Joined Colors, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1993, cat. no. 58; and a pair of bowls, from the Edward T. Chow collection, sold twice in these rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 595, and 28th April 1998, lot 841.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 22 April 2021