QING DYNASTY, 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY, BLUE-ENAMELLED CAIXIUTANG ZHI HALL MARK

The blue-enamelled hall mark, Caixiu Tang is a dedication to the 'Hall of the Colourful and Beautiful'. The present millefleurs bowl with the additional gilt decoration is unique with the only comparable example in the Beijing Palace Museum, a large bowl bearing the Qingyi Tang hall mark, and is illustrated in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 208, no. 184, dating to the Jiaqing period. A similar bowl from the Robert Chang Collection of this millefleurs pattern bearing the Caixiu Tang mark but without the gilt background, dating to the Qianlong period, was included in An Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 1993, and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, lot 811.