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Lot Essay
The exterior of these covered bowls is decorated with a particularly delicate version of a very popular motif - complex floral scrolls against a rich yellow ground. Dense floral scrolls on yellow grounds can be seen on several metal-bodied enamelled vessels in the Chinese Palace collections. They cover a Qianlong kang-table in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum -43 - Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 239, no. 226) and several pieces in the National Palace Museum, including a Qianlong-marked double vase (illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 239, no. 124), and a Qianlong marked bowl stand and covered bowl (illustrated ibid., p. 240-1, no. 125). Such floral scrolls against yellow were also popular as backgrounds against which panels could be reserved, as in the case of a lidded jar in the same collection, which has rouge enamel landscape panels on such a ground (ibid. pp. 226-7, no. 115), and a ewer with European figure panels (ibid., pp. 232-3, no. 118). A dense floral scroll on a yellow ground also appears in the well of a basin in the Palace Museum, Beijing (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum -43 - Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, op. cit., p. 233, no. 221), which also has on its base two circles composed of blue archaistic dragons.
A similar single orchid flower head, like the one on the interior of the covers, can be seen on the interior of a Yongzheng porcelain bowl in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 85, no. 74. Single orchid flowers can also be seen, along with butterflies, on a pair of early 18th century porcelain famille verte bowls in the Baur Collection (John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva - Chinese Ceramics, Vol. 4, Genève, 1974, nos. A601 & 602).
A yellow ground covered bowl with floral scrolls, identical to the current vessel, was included in the exhibition Chinese Painted Enamels, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1978, no. 75.
A similar single orchid flower head, like the one on the interior of the covers, can be seen on the interior of a Yongzheng porcelain bowl in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 85, no. 74. Single orchid flowers can also be seen, along with butterflies, on a pair of early 18th century porcelain famille verte bowls in the Baur Collection (John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva - Chinese Ceramics, Vol. 4, Genève, 1974, nos. A601 & 602).
A yellow ground covered bowl with floral scrolls, identical to the current vessel, was included in the exhibition Chinese Painted Enamels, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1978, no. 75.