Page 16 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE MING-STYLE BLUE 清乾隆七年（1742年） 青花雲龍趕珠紋盌
AND WHITE ‘DRAGON’ BOWL
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD, DATED 《康字號七年樣》款
TO THE 7TH YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1742
來源
the base with a six-character Kang zihao qi nian yang 香港佳士得2002年4月29日，編號628
(a sample made in the seventh year by Kang) mark in
underglaze blue
Diameter 5⅜ in., 14.4 cm
PROVENANCE
Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th April 2002, lot 628.
The present bowl is exceptionally rare and belongs to a
small group of imperial Qianlong period porcelains that
reveal the names of their craftsmen assumed to be samples
submitted to the court. The six-character inscription on the
present bowl reads: ‘A sample made in the seventh year
by Kang’, corresponding to 1742. A related eight-character
mark reading ‘Gu zihao pi liu nian hua yang’ (A sample
with the decorative pattern made in the sixth year by Gu),
inscribed on the base of a blue and white ‘phoenix’ dish in
the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated by Wang Qingzheng et.
al., Underglaze Blue and Red: Elegant Decoration on Porcelain
of Yuan, Ming and Qing, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 179, where
the author also mentions an underglaze blue example in
the Palace Museum, Beijing, bearing an inscription stating
it was made by ‘He’ on the 25th year of Qianlong, illustrated
in Sun Yue, ‘Qing dai yuyao ciqi de xinshi ‘guanyang’ sheji
yu shiyong [The design and use of new ‘imperial sample’
for imperial kiln porcelain in Qing Dynasty], Art Panorama,
vol. 12, 2021, fig. 11. Compare also two further porcelain
‘samples’ in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing:
the first, an incised ‘dragon’ dish bearing an eight-character
inscription reading: ‘Wu ershiwu hao shiqi nian yang’,
suggesting it was made by ‘Wu’ in the 17th year of Qianlong;
and the second a clair-de-lune-glazed dish inscribed ‘Chun
zihao qi nian pi yang’ (A sample made by Chun in the
7th year of the reign), illustrated Sun Yue, op. cit., fig. 13.
The design closely follows Ming dynasty bell-shaped bowls
of the Jiajing period, such as one in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Minji Meihin Zuroku [Illustrated
Catalogue of Important Ming Porcelains. Jiajing, Longqing
and Wanli], vol. III, Tokyo, 1978, pl. 14. Bowls of this design
and form were also produced bearing more standard
Qianlong seal marks, such as one sold alongside the present
bowl at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th April 2002, lot 629.

$ 30,000-50,000

28 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 PROPERTY FROM THE BARBARA AND LESTER LEVY COLLECTION 29