A large carved pale turquoise-enameled bowl, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)
Lot 119. A large carved pale turquoise-enameled bowl, Mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Diameter 10¼ in., 26.1 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 USD. Lot sold: 63,000 USD. © Sothebys.
the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.
Note: The carved leiwen pattern adorning the present bowl takes its inspiration from archaic ritual bronzes. During the Qing dynasty, archaic bronze forms and designs were an important source of inspiration in the production of imperial porcelain. Occasionally, as with the present example, archaistic designs on porcelain appear on shapes and styles that are otherwise completely unrelated to early bronze vessels.
Compare a very similar bowl of the same size illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed. Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part 2, pl. 211; and another in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. LXVIII-2.
A related group of smaller bowls carved with archaistic dragon designs beneath a turquoise glaze is known, including one in the collection of Brian McElney, illustrated in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Monochrome Ceramics of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1977, cat. no. 53. See also a bowl from the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 911, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 9; and a pair sold in these rooms 13th September 2017, lots 8 and 9.




