Author: --

Size: D9.5cm

Signed and dated: Yongzheng period， Qing dynasty

Estimate:

Final Price: RMB 620,000

PROVENANCE
· The Si Yue Tang Collection
· Acquired from a Taiwan collector in 1980s
REFERENCE
· Rose Kerr， Chinese ceramics ： porcelain of the Qing dynasty， 1644-1911， London， Victoria & Albert Museum， 1986
· Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin collection， Cleveland Museum of Art， 5 July – 2 September 1990， no. 73
· Sotheby’s London， 29 March 1977， Lot 272
· Sotheby’s London， 14 December 1982， Lot 229
· Sotheby’s Hong Kong， 1 November 1999， Lot 441
· Stacey Pierson， Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art ： a guide to the collection， School of Oriental and African Studies， University of London， 2002.
The bowl is finely potted in the shape of a lotus bud （lianzi）， with deep rounded sides and a pointed base resting on a straight foot， delicately painted in wucai in the exterior body with autumn scenery of lotus pond. The reeds swirling in the winds over piles of dried lotus leaves， With a pair of birds flying over the blank part， chasing each other as if the whispered hamming around the ears. It’s notable that the sentences of poem written in seal script besides the scene， as if the inscription on the scroll painting. The convex base covered with white glaze.
Derive from the shape of tea wares produced in the Longquan Kiln during the Song and Yuan dynasy， this type of lianzi bowl then became one of the finest early Ming blue-and-white wares produced at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. This wucai bowl is partially related to that of their underglaze blue counterparts， but also an iconic type developed during the Qing dynasty which applied the Imperial poem together with the tradition of ink painting to the ceramics. Pieces such as the present bowl demanded the utmost skill of the craftsman in order to capture the ethereal purity of the form and glaze.
Autumn scenery of lotus pond is rarely seen compared with the summer view. Existing examples with autumn themes in wucai usually depicts the panoramic landscape together with the mandarin ducks and views of rocks and birds. See two examples in respectively the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Cleveland Museum， with six-character seal mark on the base； another related bowl with everted mouth rim was sold firstly in the Sotheby’s London in 1977， and then sold in 1982 and 1999. Another closely related example is of the renowned collector George Eumorfopoulos， with a six-character Chenghua seal mark， now in the British Museum.