KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

The decoration on the current bowl is extremely fine and painterly, reminiscent of Song-dynasty bird and flower paintings. Kangxi porcelains of this type more commonly feature mandarin ducks, the present bowl is particularly rare for its depiction of swallows and another aquatic bird. Whereas Kangxi examples typically have deeper sides and narrower mouths, the present bowl is distinguished by its unusual size and form.

Compare a nearly identical Kangxi bowl from the Avery Brundage collection in the de Young Museum, San Francisco, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1967, plate LXVII-A. Compare to three related examples painted with mandarin ducks, such as one from the H.B. Harris Bequest, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Rose Kerr in Chinese Ceramics: Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, p.15; one in the Shanghai Museum Collection, but with an apocryphal Chenghua Mark, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 102; and a further example sold at Christie's Hong Kong, The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale, 26 September 2024, lot 9 (fig. 1).