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Lot Essay
The finely potted bowl is potted with rounded sides rising from a short foot, delicately decorated around the exterior in yangcai and iron-red enamels with an asymmetrical composition of overlapping flower blossom roundels scattered across.
Known as the 'flower-ball' pattern, this sophisticated design first emerged during the Kangxi reign, seen on a similarly decorated painted enamel circular box in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no.: gufa 000341 (fig. 1), and flourished during Yongzheng reign. While anchored in traditional Chinese roundel motifs that can be found on archaic bronzes, as well as geometric brocades on Song textiles, the widespread popularity of this design may be associated with the Yongzheng Emperor’s keen appreciation for Japanese aesthetics. The circular motifs known as mon, or Japanese family crest, found on imported Japanese lacquerware might have inspired this type of ‘flower-ball’ pattern on imperial porcelains and lacquerware commissioned during the Yongzheng reign.
Executed in both doucai and yangcai palettes, the design reaches its visual zenith in the latter technique. The present bowl showcases the perfected opaque enamel palette set against an exquisitely pristine and silky-white porcelain, endowing the bowl with a fresh, harmonious, and remarkably modern aesthetic, a hallmark of superior Yongzheng imperial porcelain. The bowl exemplifies the finest enamelled wares of the Yongzheng period while serving as a compelling physical testament to the cross-cultural exchanges of the time.
For comparables bearing the same Yongzheng mark but featuring variations in the composition and placements of the floral roundels, see one illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 77, no. 67 (fig. 2), which is nearly identical in form and size. Two further examples of slightly smaller size, with deeper, more upright walls, are in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, collection nos. guci010876N (fig. 3) and guci010877N.
Compare also a closely related pair, similar in size but slightly shallower in proportion, formerly in the collection of Sir Keith and Lady Murdoch, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 May 1995, lot 669 (fig. 4), and subsequently sold at Poly Beijing, 10 December 2025, lot 2388 (price realised RMB12,880,000).
This celebrated motif continued to evolve in succeeding reigns, appearing on a variety of vessel forms and in combination with other decorative schemes, such as teapots of the Qianlong period and matching bowls produced during the Daoguang reign.
Known as the 'flower-ball' pattern, this sophisticated design first emerged during the Kangxi reign, seen on a similarly decorated painted enamel circular box in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, collection no.: gufa 000341 (fig. 1), and flourished during Yongzheng reign. While anchored in traditional Chinese roundel motifs that can be found on archaic bronzes, as well as geometric brocades on Song textiles, the widespread popularity of this design may be associated with the Yongzheng Emperor’s keen appreciation for Japanese aesthetics. The circular motifs known as mon, or Japanese family crest, found on imported Japanese lacquerware might have inspired this type of ‘flower-ball’ pattern on imperial porcelains and lacquerware commissioned during the Yongzheng reign.
Executed in both doucai and yangcai palettes, the design reaches its visual zenith in the latter technique. The present bowl showcases the perfected opaque enamel palette set against an exquisitely pristine and silky-white porcelain, endowing the bowl with a fresh, harmonious, and remarkably modern aesthetic, a hallmark of superior Yongzheng imperial porcelain. The bowl exemplifies the finest enamelled wares of the Yongzheng period while serving as a compelling physical testament to the cross-cultural exchanges of the time.
For comparables bearing the same Yongzheng mark but featuring variations in the composition and placements of the floral roundels, see one illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 77, no. 67 (fig. 2), which is nearly identical in form and size. Two further examples of slightly smaller size, with deeper, more upright walls, are in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, collection nos. guci010876N (fig. 3) and guci010877N.
Compare also a closely related pair, similar in size but slightly shallower in proportion, formerly in the collection of Sir Keith and Lady Murdoch, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 May 1995, lot 669 (fig. 4), and subsequently sold at Poly Beijing, 10 December 2025, lot 2388 (price realised RMB12,880,000).
This celebrated motif continued to evolve in succeeding reigns, appearing on a variety of vessel forms and in combination with other decorative schemes, such as teapots of the Qianlong period and matching bowls produced during the Daoguang reign.