A pair of yellow-ground green-enamelled ‘crane’ bowls Yongzheng marks and period

each with rounded sides rising from a straight foot to a gently flaring rim, incised and painted to the exterior with eight cranes variously in flight, their heads surmounted by a red crest and their bodies enamelled in white with details picked out in black, interspersed by billowing clouds above foaming waves cresting against rocky mountains painted in green enamels, all reserved on an egg-yolk yellow ground, the white base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double-circle

Collection of Sir Alfred Beit (1903-1994).

One bowl has been broken and repaired in two places. The first is a large crescent-shaped break through nearly one third of the bowl. The other is a smaller break to the rim to the opposite side with an associated (6.5cm) crack running diagonally to the base. The other bowl has a 5mm by 3mm chip to the exterior rim and some scratches and minor inclusions to the glaze to the interior.
"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."

A closely related example from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 84; one in the Baur collection is published in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, pl. 204; a third bowl from the Warre Collection is included in R.L. Hobson, The Later Ceramic Wares of China, London, 1925, pl. LIX, fig. 3; and another in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated in A Handbook to the W.G. Gulland Bequest of Chinese Porcelain, London, 1950, pl. VIa.

A pair of bowls of this type, from the Hall Family Collection, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 546; another, published in Sotheby's Hong Kong Twenty Years 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 370, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 15th May 1990, lot 299, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th May 2007, lot 1364; and a third pair from the collection of Virginia H. Rogers, was sold in our New York rooms, 17^th/18^thSeptember 2013, lot 346.

The image of eight flying cranes represents the Eight Immortals and the wish for longevity.