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Lot Essay
No other bowls of this very unusual design appear to have been published. However, the fine shading and delineation in the depiction of the blooms compares very closely to the decoration found on Kangxi and Yongzheng 'poppy' bowls, examples of which include one formerly in the Robert Chang Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1526; and two bowls in the Percival David Collection included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Wares, London, 1991, nos. 821 and 878.
Other related bowls include a bowl from the Goldschmidt Collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 40, and illustrated on the cover; and a pair of cups with day lilies and dianthus emerging from rockwork in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. 2, London, 1994, pp. 276-77, no. 963.
The design appears to be a pre-cursor to a motif seen on yellow-ground famille-rose bowls produced from the Qianlong period onwards such as the example in the British Museum illustrated by H. Moss in By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 6. The individual blooms compare very closely to those on the present pair of bowls.
These bowls show very clearly how quickly the painters at the official kilns mastered and took advantage of the new opportunities afforded by the newly-developed opaque white enamel to provide pastel colors, to allow shading of individual petals, and to enable the ceramic decorator to paint white or pink-tinged flowers of exquisite delicacy.
Other related bowls include a bowl from the Goldschmidt Collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 13 November 1990, lot 40, and illustrated on the cover; and a pair of cups with day lilies and dianthus emerging from rockwork in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. 2, London, 1994, pp. 276-77, no. 963.
The design appears to be a pre-cursor to a motif seen on yellow-ground famille-rose bowls produced from the Qianlong period onwards such as the example in the British Museum illustrated by H. Moss in By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 6. The individual blooms compare very closely to those on the present pair of bowls.
These bowls show very clearly how quickly the painters at the official kilns mastered and took advantage of the new opportunities afforded by the newly-developed opaque white enamel to provide pastel colors, to allow shading of individual petals, and to enable the ceramic decorator to paint white or pink-tinged flowers of exquisite delicacy.