A FINE AND RARE PAIR OF CORAL-GROUND FAMILLE-VERTE 'PEONY' BOWLS YUZHI MARKS AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG

each delicately potted with rounded sides rising from a short foot to a gently everted rim, the exterior decorated in the famille-verte palette with three large peony blooms, each densely rendered with frilly pale yellow and pastel blue petals, wreathed by curling feathery leaves against a rich coral-red ground, the base inscribed with an underglaze-blue four-character yuzhi mark within a double-square

James Spencer, Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, pl. 142.
Ceramics from the Chang Foundation, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, 1995, cat. nos. 95-6.
One Thousand Years of Jingdezhen, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Tajimi, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Kasama, Hagi Uragami Museum, Hagi, Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2006-7, cat. no. 35.

The pair of bowls are in fine 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."

From the Kangxi period (1622-1722), dark-coloured grounds adorned with vibrantly coloured floral designs were favoured for their dramatic demonstration of the flower motif. The form and colours of this pair of bowls is typical of the porcelain produced in the early Yongzheng period (1723-1735) and continue in the style pioneered by craftsmen of the Kangxi period. Ceramic experts use different terms to call such bowls, such as wucai, fanglang cai, yangcai, and they are yet to agree on the definitions of such terms, but in any case this pair of bowls has been made for the Yongzheng Emperor and is very rare and attractive with brilliant colours.

By tradition, bowls like the present pair are often called wucai or ‘five coloured’ wares, which were fired in imperial kilns of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. For a similar bowl but with flower heads in blue, see Qian Zhenzong, Qing dai ciqi shangjian [Appreciation of Qing dynasty porcelain], Hong Kong, 1994, pl.116. However, a pair of bowls similar to the current pair, now in the National Palace Museum Taipei, was listed as ‘porcelain body with painted falang ([foreign-inspired] enamel)’ in an archive of the Qing court, and are thus called falang cai in the Museum’s exhibition catalogue, Empty Vessels. Replenished Minds. The Culture. Practice, and Art of Tea, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, cat. no. 109. Falang cai generally refers to wares with their plain porcelain fired first at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen, and then painted and fired in the imperial workshops of the Forbidden City with falang enamels that had been inspired by European enamels introduced to the Qing court by Jesuit artisans. However, in the catalogue of a later exhibition at this museum, these two bowls and near ten other closely related pieces are called yangcai or ‘foreign colours’, although most other objects are called falang cai, whereas yangcai generally refers to imperial porcelains fired and enamelled with the foreign-inspired palette in kilns of Jingdezhen, see Porcelain with Painted Enamels of Qing Yongzheng Period (1723-1735), Taipei, 2013, cat. nos. 18-19, alongside similar Yongzheng bowls but with the flower heads in blue, cat. nos. 16-17.

Also noteworthy about this pair of bowls is their mark of Yongzheng yuzhi ('made by the imperial order of Yongzheng') written and fired in Jingdezhen in underglaze blue. The yuzhi marks appear in overglaze enamels written and fired in the imperial workshops of Beijing. Such yuzhi marks are much rarer than the common marks of Yongzheng nianzhi ('made in the years of Yongzheng') that were written and fired in Jingdezhen in underglaze blue. The shape of these bowls is similar to a wooden milk tea bowl in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, implying they may also have been used for Mongolian or Tibetan milk tea, see Empty Vessels. Replenished Minds. The Culture. Practice, and Art of Tea, op. cit., pp. 21 & 130.

Examples of bowls of similar form, design and mark include two sold in our London rooms, one on 1st/2nd April 1974, lot 306, the other on 2nd/3rd December 1974, lot 484; a pair sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1982, lot 266; one sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 1999, lot 345; and a pair sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1347. Other similar bowls, but with the flower heads in blue, include one in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu [Complete book of Chinese ceramics], vol. 21, Kyoto, 1981, pl. 105; a pair from the British Rail Pension Fund, sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 72, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st/3rd May 1994, lot 738; and a further pair from the collection of John F. Woodthorpe, sold in our London rooms, 6th April 1954, lot 100, and again in these rooms, 3rd May 1994, lot 215.