Page 228 - Christie's London Fine Chinese Ceramics Nov. 2019

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A RARE MING-STYLE UNDERGLAZE BLUE YELLOW-GROUND CONICAL BOWL
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD
(1736-1795)
The bowl has wide faring sides rising from a slightly spreading foot to an everted rim. The interior is
fnely decorated with a central foral medallion with a double underglaze blue circle, the cavetto further
embellished with six evenly spaced foral sprays including lotus, mallow, camelia, chrysanthemum,
gardenia and hibiscus and a decorative foral band at the rim. The exterior is similarly decorated with foral
sprays between a band of key fret to the underside of the rim and cloud scroll to the foot, all against a bright
lemon-yellow enamel ground, that continues onto the base around the underglaze blue mark, with the
exception of the foot rim.
10º in. (26. cm.) diam.
£80,000-120,000 US$100,000-150,000
€91,000-140,000
The shape and design of this bowl takes its inspiration from a blue and white Xuande period prototype
but the addition of a yellow enamel ground was an innovation developed at the imperial kilns at
Jingdezhen during the Yongzheng period. In his Taocheng jishi, 'Account of Porcelain Achievement',
compiled in 1735, Tang Ying lists a 'Xuande-style design on yellow ground' as one of ffty-seven types of
wares supplied to the court and noted to be a newly developed category of the period.
Similar Qianlong-marked bowls are found in the Qing Court Collection and international museums.
The National Palace Museum, Taipei, has nine examples listed on the online archive, museum numbers:
zhongci 003353N-003361N. Another example is in the Baur Foundation, illustrated by J. Ayers in The
Baur Collection Geneva, vol. IV, Geneva, 1974, no. A584; another in the Nanjing Museum, included in
the exhibition catalogue Qing Imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 79, and again illustrated in The
Oficial Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 216. The present lot may be
compared with the bowl sold at Christie's New York, 27 March 2017, lot 1246.

清乾隆 黃地青花花卉紋碗 六字篆書款

(mark)

226 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.