A famille-rose ‘floral’ bowl, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 粉彩花卉紋盌 《大清雍正年製》款

This charming bowl belongs to a small group of wares finely enamelled with brightly coloured stems of poppy blossom and floral buds against a pure white porcelain body. This elegant and restrained motif appears to have been inspired by famille-verte cups of the Kangxi period (1662-1722), which were sparsely decorated with branches of flowers or fruits. Bowls of this type display an increased interest in the pureness of the porcelain body and a greater emphasis on the naturalistic rendering of flowers, made possible by the development of the enamels of the famille-rose palette.

Other bowls of this type include one in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection. Geneva. Chinese Ceramics. Volume Four. Painted and Polychrome Porcelains of The Ch'ing Dynasty, Geneva, 1984, pl. A 599; another, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Suzanne G. Valenstein. A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989, pl. 39; and a pair of smaller bowls, each painted with peonies and magnolia blossoms, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 21st May 2010, lot 1874.