Lot Essay
Famille rose bowls depicting the Eight Immortals, such as the present example, are exceptionally rare. A similar Immortal bowl featuring fourteen figures, including one attendant, all bordered by underglaze blue double-lines, from the Qing court collection in Beijing, is illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 118. Another example was featured in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Iron in the Fire, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1988, and is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, no. 79. Additionally, an iron-red and black enamel-decorated 'Immortals' bowl bearing a Kangxi mark was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3047.