A fine and rare famille-rose 'floral' bowl, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 粉彩玉堂富貴紋盌 《大清乾隆年製》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th October 2001, lot 603.

香港蘇富比2001年10月29日，編號603

This elegant bowl is a precious example of the refined famille-rose pieces produced during the Qianlong period. Invented during the preceding Yongzheng reign, the famille-rose (fencai) technique soon became one of the most popular types in the Qing imperial court, with its production persisting until the end of the dynasty.

The present bowl is decorated with blossoming peonies and white magnolia, which convey the meaning of yutang fugui (may your noble house be blessed with wealth and honour). This design became very popular during the Yongzheng period; see, for example, a dish with this motif from the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Gugong zhencang Kang Yong Qian ciqi tulu / Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Collection, Beijing, 1989, pl. 147. 

Porcelains with similar designs were also produced in the Qianlong era, evidencing the continuity of the technique within the imperial workshop. Notably, the representation of the central peony on this cup is almost identical to the one found on a pair of Yongzheng' chrysanthemum' dishes with similar decoration sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1546.

Compare a piece with similar decoration, but in a deep bowl shape, sold twice at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1440, and again 31st May 2017, lot 3213; one painted with flowering branches of peony and magnolia to the exterior, sold at Christie's London, 5th June 1995, lot 164; and a related one decorated with insects in flight above three large peony blooms, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31st October 2000, lot 909.