Page 40 - Chiense works of art sothebys march 14 2017 nyc
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A CORAL-GROUND FAMILLE-ROSE BOWL                                Exquisitely enameled with luxuriant oral sprays against a
QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD                                   bright yellow and coral ground, bowls of this type are rare
                                                                and only three closely related examples appear to have been
well-potted with steep rounded sides, painted to the exterior   published: the rst, from the collections of the British Rail
with three evenly spaced yellow-ground panels of shaded pink    Pension Fund, the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, and the
peony blooms, bordered with foliate scrollwork, all against a   Jingguantang collection, was sold twice in our Hong Kong
rich coral-red ground, the base with a six-character seal mark  rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 81, and 8th April 2007, lot 802, and
in underglaze blue                                              at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 2994; the second,
Diameter 4¼ in., 10.8 cm                                        from the collection of the Grierson family, was sold in our
                                                                London rooms, 14th November 2001, lot 104; and the third was
PROVENANCE                                                      sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 5th/6th November 1997, lot 956.

Collection of Sybil Luna Moses (1900-1992) and Maurice          From the Kangxi period dark-colored grounds adorned with
(1888-1962) Dangoor, Shanghai and thence by descent.            vibrantly colored oral designs were favored for their dramatic
                                                                demonstration of the newly developed falangcai enamels at
$ 80,000-120,000                                                the palace Workshops in Beijing. These bowls were made at
                                                                Jingdezhen and enameled in Beijing and inspired a variety of
Sybil Luna Moses 1900 1992  Maurice 1888 1962                   imperial wares made in later reigns, such as this bowl that
Dangoor                                                         closely follows its Kangxi prototype. A bowl of this design
                                                                with a Kangxi yuzhi mark in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is
                                                                illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the
                                                                Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration
                                                                and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 2, together
                                                                with a similarly decorated cup with Yongzheng mark and of the
                                                                period, pl. 81.

                                                                The motif on the present bowl remained popular throughout
                                                                the Qing period; see for example a Jiaqing mark and period
                                                                bowl included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition
                                                                Enamelled Polychrome Porcelain in the Manchu Dynasty,
                                                                London, 1951, cat. no. 199, and sold in our Hong Kong
                                                                rooms, 3rd May 1994, lot 214; a Daoguang mark and period
                                                                example from the Ohlmer collection in the Roemer Museum,
                                                                Hildesheim, illustrated in Ulrich Wiesner, Chinesisches
                                                                Porzellan, Mainz am Rhein, 1981, pl. 138; and a further bowl
                                                                with a Guangxu mark and of the period, in the Weishaupt
                                                                collection, published in Gunhild Avitabile, From the Dragon’s
                                                                Treasure, London, 1987, pl. 29.

                                                                The bowl has the added distinction of its association with
                                                                the illustrious Sassoon family which established trading ties
                                                                with the East in the early 19th century. Sybil Luna Moses
                                                                Dangoor, who bequeathed the bowl to her daughter, was
                                                                the granddaughter of David Sassoon (1792-1864). Based

                                                                 rst in Mumbai, David Sassoon moved the family business
                                                                to Shanghai where, by the mid 19th century, there was a

                                                                 ourishing Jewish community of Baghdadian origin, nearly all
                                                                of whom were following in the intrepid footsteps of Sassoon
                                                                whose eponymous rm was one of the most successful
                                                                international trading operations in the world.

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