A drawing of this design is illustrated by Geng Baochang in Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Qingdai Bufen, p. 163, fig. 213. This was first seen on Qianlong period bowls, and reproduced during successive reign periods. A pair of dishes with the ba jixiang in pairs, bearing the Daoguang cyclical dates corresponding to 1850 and 1849, were included in the Hong Kong O.C.S. Exhibition of Ch'ing Polychrome Porcelain, 1977, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no.11. Also, cf. a Tongzhi bowl of the same size and pattern as the present lot, exhibited in 1983, and illustrated by the University of Hong Kong, Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing, Catalogue, no.97.

It is interesting to note the use of overglaze pastel blue, rather than underglaze blue, enamelled selectively around the bowl. With the development of the famille rose palette, opaque white and opaque yellow enamels could be mixed to create pastel colours and, as such, was far more versatile than famille verte which confined its short-lived popularity predominately to the Kangxi period.

Compare with a similar pair sold in these Rooms, 8 October 1990, lot 691.

(US$8,000-10,000)