A PAIR OF FINE AND RARE CHENGHUA-STYLE DOUCAI BOWLS

YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARKS IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD

Details

A PAIR OF FINE AND RARE CHENGHUA-STYLE DOUCAI BOWLS
Yongzheng Six-Character Marks in Underglaze Blue within a Double Circle and of the Period
Each finely potted and delicately painted on the exterior with baoxiang meander, the blossoms alternately full face and in profile on a slender undulating stem with green pointed leaves, the interior with a frieze of detached lotus sprays encircling a central stylized flowerhead
4.5/8in. (11.8cm.) diam., box (2)

Literature

The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing, 1995, pl. 142.

Lot Essay

Only one other pair of bowls of this rare Ming-style design, from the Edward T. Chow Collection, appears to be published. See Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 555 and again 2 May 1995, lot 140.

Compare, also, a similar pair of smaller Yongzheng-marked cups from the collection of C.P. Lin included in the Joint Exhibition from the Collections of the Percival David Foundation and C.P. Lin, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, London, 19 June - 10 September 1992, Catalogue, no. 143.

This rare design is most likely based on blue and white Chenghua prototypes such as the two bowls excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen and included in the exhibition, A Legacy of Chenghua, The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1993, Catalogue, no. C71.