A FINE CARVED PALE TURQUOISE 'KUI DRAGON' BOWL MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG

well potted, the shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot to a flared rim, finely carved around the exterior with an archaistic bronze design of two highly stylized dragons in shallow relief on a ground of incised key-fret, below a plain band and a further key-fret border at the rim, all above a double fillet encircling the foot, the exterior covered with an attractive opaque enamel of light turquoise-blue colour, the interior reserved in white, the white base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double ring in underglaze blue

Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d’Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 193.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 911.

There are a few pin-prick air bubbles to the white glaze inside and very minor grits and a light scratch in one area outside near the rim, but otherwise the bowl is in overall very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Archaic bronzes were imitated in many other materials since the earliest times and while it was often the forms that were copied in ceramics, in the Qing dynasty in particular bronze decoration was an important source for porcelain design even on shapes and styles that are otherwise completely unrelated to early bronze vessels, like the present bowl. Archaistic dragon forms are here stylized to such a degree that they are recognizable mainly through the accompanying leiwen background pattern, which unmistakably refers to archaic bronze decoration.

A companion bowl, of the same shape and glaze colour, in the collection of Brian McElney was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Monochrome Ceramics of the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1977, cat. no. 53; another was sold at Christie’s London, 3rd December 1973, lot 339, and is illustrated in Anthony du Boulay, Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese Art, Oxford, 1984, p. 222, fig. 6. A bowl of this design with a mint-green glaze was sold at Christie’s New York, 20th September 2005, lot 390.

Compare also a larger bowl with incised leiwen only under a similar pastel-turquoise glaze, also of Yongzheng mark and period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], Beijing, 2005, vol. I, part 2, pl. 211.