CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, MARQUE A QUATRE CARACTERES ET EPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)

This rare cloisonné enamel alms bowl bears the Qianlong reign mark and would have been specially commissioned for Buddhist rituals in the Qing court or as a gift to a Buddhist temple favoured by the emperor. Compare two Qianlong mark and period cloisonné enamel alms bowls smaller sizes (15.8 cm. and 5.7 cm. mouth diam.), also decorated with the bajixiang motifs, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 2, Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pls.260 and 261; for another larger example (30.2cm diam.) see The Prime Cultural Relics Collected By Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum: The Enamel Volume, Liaoning, 2007, pl.1. See also an alms bowl with auspicious character roundels to the base from the Roger Keverne collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 October 2016, lot 4.