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

Compare a similar bowl, which does not have the fifth claw obscured, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1987, Part I, no. 91, and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 September 1989, lot 599.

J. Ayers in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1974, vol. I, mentions, discussing A555, that the fifth claw being concealed "was apparently required in circumstances where the piece was considered to be no longer destined for the Emperor's use."