KANGXI FOUR-CHARACTER YUZHI MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

The current bowl is a very fine example of a well-known group of bowls decorated with colourful flowers on a coral-ground made in the Kangxi reign. The unusual yuzhi mark led some scholars to believe this group was made to imitate the enamelled porcelain falangcai. Bowls of this type continued to be manufactured in Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Daoguang periods.

A Kangxi-marked bowl of this design in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 140-141, no. 95 (fig. 1), and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Qing Porcelain of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Periods from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 104, pl. 87 (fig. 2). The National Palace Museum, Taipei, also houses several examples of this type; see collection no.: guci011368N (fig. 3).

For other Kangxi yuzhi mark bowls of this design sold at auctions, see a pair from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 4; another pair from the collection of Dr. Alice Cheng, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2012, lot 122; a single bowl sold at Sotheby's London, 15 May 2013, lot 167; and another single bowl sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 June 2016, lot 3237 (fig. 4).