DAOGUANG SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1821-1850)

Famille rose bowls decorated on the exterior with this pattern of stylized flowers borne on leafy stems and on the interior with five iron-red bats (wufu), all above a rich lemon-yellow ground, appear to have developed during the Qianlong period (1736-1795). Indeed, a group of these yellow-ground bowls was made as early as the second year of the Qianlong reign (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 205, no. 181).

A pair of comparable Daoguang-marked bowls formerly in the Fonthill Collection was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2982. A similar bowl in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 79.2.536), but decorated on the exterior with six main flowers and of slightly larger proportions (18.4 cm. diam.), is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 163.