YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

Yongzheng bowls of this pattern are rare, but appear to have been produced in increasing numbers through the course of the Qing dynasty. A single Yongzheng-marked blue and white bowl similarly painted on the exterior, but with Shoulao and his deer in the interior roundel, from the collection of Sir Harry Garner, is illustrated by S. Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1971, pl. LX. A similar blue and white 'Eight Immortals' bowl, but with a Qianlong mark, is illustrated in In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chu Society, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 192, no. 144.

A number of Yongzheng bowls of this type decorated in doucai enamels have been sold at auction, including a pair at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20 November 1984, lot 501; a further pair at Christie's London, 4 December 1995, lot 153; a pair first sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 October 1994, lot 617, and again 29 May 2007, lot 617; and a pair sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 May 2010, lot 1876.