A HONG BOWL

CIRCA 1775

Details

A HONG BOWL
Circa 1775
Each side with a large panel showing together a continuous view of the Western factories along the Canton waterfront, the flags of Denmark and France (sic) on one side and of Sweden, Britain and Holland on the other, small sampans in the water and Western and Chinese figures leaning over the balconies, peering out from doorways or strolling with their dogs, the interior with a large clump of colorful flowers beneath a border of cell pattern issuing gilt bamboo and grapevine
15in. (40cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

Howard and Ayers, China for the West, p. 209, report that the earliest hong bowl, with one large panel showing the Canton waterfront and the other the Copenhagen market, dates to about 1765. Bowls with two panels, like the present example, seem to have been made from about 1770 to 80, when the decoration became continuous. See also Hervouet and Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes a decor Occidental, p. 25