QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

This bowl is superbly enameled and demonstrates the height of Qianlong period craftsmanship. Qianlong bowls bearing a kaishu (standard script) six-character mark are exceptionally rare and few examples have been published. One in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Zhongguotaoci quanji, vol.21, Shanghai, 1981, pl. 111and in Chugoku Toji Zenshu, vol. 21, pl. 111; and another in the Wang Xing Lou Collection is illustrated in Imperial Perfection: The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Kangxi - Yongzheng - Qianlong, Hong Kong, 2004, pp. 158-159, no. 57. See, also, an example sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 25, and one sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16 September 2014, lot 171.

For examples of similar bowls, but with a typical six-character seal mark, see one in the Nanjing Museum included in the exhibition, Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 101, and another in the British Museum, illustrated by H. Moss, By Imperial Command, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 6. Compare, also, the slightly larger bowl sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10 April 2006, lot 1742.