YONGZHENG FOUR-CHARACTER YUZHI MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

The current lot is a rare example of a well-known group of bowls decorated with colourful flowers on a coral-ground which were made in the early Yongzheng reign. The design, composition and palette of this type are based on Kangxi prototypes, such as an example bearing a Kangxi yuzhi mark in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, no.95 (fig.1). Hugh Moss in By Imperial Command. An Introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, p. 82, suggests that bowls of this type were most probably made at Jingdezhen within the first two years of the Yongzheng reign, when potters were not yet familiar with the famille rose palette which only emerged during the late Kangxi period based on falangcai enamels used within the palace workshops in Beijing.

Compare to a smaller Yongzheng bowl of this design (11 cm. diam.), illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995 pls. 159. Compare also a slightly larger bowl (14.8 cm.) from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2012, lot 49.