Exquisitely enamelled by master court enamellers within the confines of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the large bowl would once have been an object of pure delight for the Emperor and kept in the major palace halls of Qianqinggong and Yangxindian. Having once formed a pair with its counterpart, which is now preserved in the Musée Guimet, Paris, it is the only one of this design in private hands. The superbly rendered kui dragons on the bowl hark back to the late Shang dragon motifs, and the spatial arrangement of the dragons echoes that of floral bowls developed during the Kangxi reign, illustrating the Qianlong Emperor’s fondness of the glorious legacy of China’s cultural heritage as well as his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor.
50 Years New in Asia
An Extremely Rare Blue-Ground Falangcai 'Dragon' Bowl, Blue-Enamel Mark and Period of Qianlong
Hong Kong | 6 October
