A FINE PAIR OF CAFÉ-AU-LAIT-GLAZED BOWLS

Details
A FINE PAIR OF CAFÉ-AU-LAIT-GLAZED BOWLS
QIANLONG SEAL MARKS IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD

Each with deep rounded sides, covered inside and out with a rich reddish-brown glaze with somewhat metallic sheen stopping at the edge of the white-glazed mouth rim
4 15/16in. (12.5cm.) diam. (2)

Lot Essay

For a comparable pair of bowls with Qianlong seal marks see Chinese Porcelain: The S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection , Part I, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 161

According to Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, p. 172, brown glazes were already in use in the Yuan dynasty. She also points out that iron is the most versatile of coloring agents in ceramics and that iron-brown glazes range from dark brown to a light café-au-lait tone