QING YI TANG THREE-CHARACTER HALLMARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE, QIANLONG/JIAQING PERIOD (1736-1820)

The elaborate enamel floral decoration on this bowl is first seen in the Yongzheng period. Three bowls of this type with a Yongzheng four-character mark in blue enamel have been published. One in the Beijing Palace Museum is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 15. Another previously in the collection of Edward T. Chow is illustrated by M. Beurdeley and G. Raindre, Qing Porcelain, New York, 1987, no. 146. And a third was sold in these rooms, 15 September 2009, lot 371. A similar bowl with blue enamel Cai xiu tang zhi hall mark (Hall of the Colorful and Beautiful), dated to the Qianlong period, was included in the Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 2-14 June 1993, no. 106, and was subsequently sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 31 October 2000, lot 811. For a Jiaqing example with four-character hallmark see the bowl of lower profile with similar 'mille fleurs' decoration reserved on a gold ground illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelain with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, op.cit., no. 184.