QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-SQUARES AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The design on the present lot is recorded in the Qing Palace Archives: 'On the twenty-second day of the twelfth month in the first year of the Qianlong reign (1736)...the emperor endorsed the production of wares in accordance with the plate prototype featuring a yellow ground with green-enamelled floral motifs and the four characters Fori chang ming, applicable on any 7-cun (the Chinese measurement cun is equivalent to 3.2-3.55 cm) plate, 5-cun plate, large bowl and small bowl...' Henceforth, that design was widely fashioned on porcelain wares in the following reigns.

A bowl of this pattern from the British Rail Pension Fund was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 86