A rare coral-ground famille-verte 'floral' bowl, Yuzhi mark and period of Yongzheng

拍品描述

To be sold on behalf of the United Kingdom Government the base with a four-character yuzhi mark within a double square in underglaze blue Diameter 14.6 cm, 5¾ in. This bowl is a very rare and unusual example of a well-known group of wares. Bowls with this type of lush flower decoration on a coral-red ground, which were made around the late Kangxi and early Yongzheng period and revived in the Qianlong reign, are known with Kangxi and Yongzheng yu zhi, Yongzheng nian zhi, six-character Yongzheng marks and Qianlong seal marks; examples of these various types, all smaller in size, taller in proportion and flared, are illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art. Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995 pls. 158-60 and 166. A similar large bowl from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 73, is illustrated in Sotheby's. Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 318. The use of the phrase yu zhi [made to imperial order] suggests a closer relationship to the imperial court than the regular wording nian zhi [made in the period of...] and follows the style of marking used at the imperial enamelling workshops in Beijing, which applied yu zhi marks in enamel colours. Compare a closely related bowl in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in La céramique chinoise ancienne, Paris, 2015, pg. 212; and another, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th April 2002, lot 565.

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