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A FINE AND RARE DOUCAI Yongzheng reign marks have been studied in no. 52; a single bowl in the British Museum,
CONICAL ‘DRAGON’ BOWL detail by Peter Y.K. Lam, who suggests that London, is published in R.L. Hobson, The Later
YONGZHENG SEAL MARK AND since the character qing (great) on late Kangxi Ceramic Wares of China, London, 1925, pl. LV,
PERIOD porcelain is written with the yue (moon) radical
rendered with a vertical line, Yongzheng marks g. 1.
nely potted, with wide ared sides rising from with the same characteristic can be ascribed
a short straight foot, brilliantly enameled to the to the early years to the Yongzheng reign (see See also two doucai dishes with a similar
exterior with two ve-clawed dragons, one in Peter Y.K. Lam, ‘Four Studies on Yongzheng archaistic Yongzheng reign mark, each painted
yellow and the other in green, each in pursuit and Qianlong Imperial Ware’, Ethereal Elegance. with a qilin above waves, sold in our Hong Kong
of a ‘ aming pearl’, leaping out from a band Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing. The rooms; the rst from the British Rail Pension
of turbulent crested waves, and amidst multi- Huaihaitang collection, Art Museum, The Chinese Fund and now in the Chang Foundation, Taipei,
colored cloud scrolls and ame scrolls, the base University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, p. illustrated in James Spencer, Selected Chinese
with an archaistic six-character seal mark in 53). As a result, the present mark and the six- Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei,
underglaze blue character standard script mark more commonly 1990, pl. 140, sold, 27th November 1975, lot
Diameter 8 in., 20.4 cm found on bowls of this type, both of which feature 33, and again, 16th May 1989, lot 55, and the
a vertical line on the yue radical of the qing second sold, 11th June 1991, lot 246, and again at
Exquisitely painted with two dynamic ve-clawed character, were probably used simultaneously, Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st March 1992, lot 619.
dragons with gaping mouths and aring nostrils, although the former in rare cases.
this bowl embodies the Yongzheng Emperor’s $ 200,000-300,000
great passion for exacting designs and innovative Bowls of this design but with a reign mark written
shapes as well as his insistence on outstanding in standard script are held in important private
quality. Particularly coveted for their painterly and museum collections worldwide. A bowl and
designs, bowls modeled with steep aring sides cover in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated
to accommodate a similarly-shaped cover were in Qing Porcelain of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong
an innovation of the Yongzheng period and are from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong
often attributed to the rst years of the reign on Kong, 1989, p. 201, pl. 30; a pair in the Nanjing
account of their reign mark. The present bowl is Museum, Nanjing, was included in the exhibition
a particularly notable example of this group, as it Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng
bears an archaistic mark which is exceptionally and Qianlong Reigns, Art Gallery, The Chinese
rare and was seldom used throughout the reign. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995, cat.
32 SOTHEBY’S
