Lot Essay
It is unusual to find bowls of this shape and pattern with Qianlong marks. An earlier example of the pattern can be seen on a bowl with rounded sides, and Kangxi mark, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 38 - Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, no. 197. A pair of bowls of the same shape and pattern with Jiaqing marks in the Hong Kong Museum of Art is illustrated in The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong, 1984, no. 90; and an example with Daoguang mark is illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983, no. 32. A Qianlong-marked bowl of this type was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2 May 1994, lot 699.