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Lot Essay
The finely potted bowl is of deep rounded form with a conical base, the exterior is vividly decorated with a free standing leafy branch with red berries, the reverse with two butterflies.
The artistic execution of the present bowl is exceptional, capturing a fleeting moment of seasonal transition with remarkable sensitivity; the delicate two-tone leaves display subtle browning at their tips to suggest autumn withering, while the butterflies in mid-flight are rendered with extraordinary lightness and dynamic vitality. The addition of a solitary falling leaf and a prunus blossom further enhances this poetic atmosphere.
No identical counterpart to the present bowl appears to be recorded, and its unusual form suggests it may be unique. Related Kangxi works in institutional collections demonstrate varying expressions of the subject. The Palace Museum, Beijing, holds a Kangxi-marked bowl with a flared rim, decorated with a red berry spray and two butterflies over incised dragons, exhibiting a flatter composition without the dimensional depth seen on the present bowl; the museum also holds a dish painted on both interior and exterior with similar two-tone leaves, red berries, and butterflies with dotted-wing, bearing an apocryphal Chenghua mark, both illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 160, no. 146 (fig. 1) and p. 123 no. 113 (fig. 2). Additionally, a pair of bowls in the collection of the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong depicts the same subject with denser branch, illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 24.
A pair of similarly decorated bowls was sold alongside the present bowl at Sotheby’s London, 6 July 1971, lot 184, and subsequently sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 158. For a related Kangxi-marked bowl decorated with a crab-apple branch and flying butterflies, rendered in a lighter, softer palette, see a bowl formerly in the Tingsongshuwu Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 890 (fig. 3). Compare further to a Kangxi-marked bowl with a recessed base, decorated with a bird perched on a loquat branch, extending over the rim into the interior, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2014, lot 3107.
The artistic execution of the present bowl is exceptional, capturing a fleeting moment of seasonal transition with remarkable sensitivity; the delicate two-tone leaves display subtle browning at their tips to suggest autumn withering, while the butterflies in mid-flight are rendered with extraordinary lightness and dynamic vitality. The addition of a solitary falling leaf and a prunus blossom further enhances this poetic atmosphere.
No identical counterpart to the present bowl appears to be recorded, and its unusual form suggests it may be unique. Related Kangxi works in institutional collections demonstrate varying expressions of the subject. The Palace Museum, Beijing, holds a Kangxi-marked bowl with a flared rim, decorated with a red berry spray and two butterflies over incised dragons, exhibiting a flatter composition without the dimensional depth seen on the present bowl; the museum also holds a dish painted on both interior and exterior with similar two-tone leaves, red berries, and butterflies with dotted-wing, bearing an apocryphal Chenghua mark, both illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 160, no. 146 (fig. 1) and p. 123 no. 113 (fig. 2). Additionally, a pair of bowls in the collection of the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong depicts the same subject with denser branch, illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 24.
A pair of similarly decorated bowls was sold alongside the present bowl at Sotheby’s London, 6 July 1971, lot 184, and subsequently sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 158. For a related Kangxi-marked bowl decorated with a crab-apple branch and flying butterflies, rendered in a lighter, softer palette, see a bowl formerly in the Tingsongshuwu Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 890 (fig. 3). Compare further to a Kangxi-marked bowl with a recessed base, decorated with a bird perched on a loquat branch, extending over the rim into the interior, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2014, lot 3107.