A fine pair of 'famille rose' blue-ground 'medallion' bowls marks and period of Daoguang

each finely potted with broad rounded sides painted on the exterior in bright 'famille-rose' enamels with four circular medallions depicting the story of Niu Lang Zhi Nu, the Cowherd and the Fairy Weaver, divided by pink, yellow and turquoise vaporous clouds, all reserved on a lavender-blue ground decorated in sgraffiato technique with feathery foliate scrolls, the interior finely painted in underglaze-blue with a central medallion containing scene of the two lovers meeting surrounded by magpies and ruyi clouds, the sides with four further magpies divided by more rising ruyi clouds, the base inscribed with a six-character mark in underglaze-blue

The Rolf Heiniger Collection.
S. Marchant & Son.

The Rolf Heiniger Collection of Qing Imperial Wares, S. Marchant and Son, London, 2000, cat.no. 19.