Lot 1698. Important 20.03 carats Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond Ring. Estimation 16,000,000 — 20,000,000 HKD. © Sotheby's

Accompanied by GIA report numbered 1132342335, dated 23 September 2016, stating that the 20.03 carat diamond is natural, Fancy Vivid Yellow Colour, Internally Flawless.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 01:30 PM

Lot 1853. Important 11.46 carats Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond and Diamond Ring. Estimation 7,500,000 — 9,000,000 HKD. © Sotheby's

Accompanied by GIA report numbered 2185399094, dated 12 May 2017, stating that the 11.46 carat diamond is natural, Fancy Vivid Yellow Colour, VVS1 Clarity.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 01:30 PM

Lot 1849. Fine Pair of Natural Pearl, Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond and Diamond Pendent Ear Clips, Harry Winston. Estimation 7,100,000 — 9,000,000 HKD. © Sotheby's

Accompanied by SSEF report numbered 65748, dated 8 November 2012, stating that the pearls are natural saltwater pearls, with no indications of artificial colour modification; also accompanied by two GIA reports numbered 5151572509 and 2155572574, both dated 6 August 2013, stating that the 3.26 and 3.23 carat diamonds are natural, Fancy Vivid Yellow Colour, VVS2 and SI1 Clarity respectively.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 01:30 PM

© Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Lot 19. Two models of tea grinders, Five Dynasties (907-960). Estimate HKD 22,000 - HKD 30,000 (USD 2,830 - USD 3,859). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

One green-glazed pottery, the other white-glazed stoneware. The larger, 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.) long, box.

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Lot 20. A Yue box and cover, Tang dynasty (618-907); 3 5/8 in. (9.1 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000 (USD 7,718 - USD 10,291). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, February 1983

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Note: Compare a very similar Yue circular box in the collection of Ningbo Tianyige Museum, illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China: Zhejiang, Beijing, 2008, pl. 129. (fig. 1)

fig. 1. Collection of Ningbo Tianyige Museum

Lot 21. A carved Yue 'Peony' jar and cover, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 4 in. (10.1 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 180,000 (USD 15,436 - USD 23,154). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Two Chinese characters, shi (ten) and ri (sun), are incised on the exterior side of the foot, box.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, October 1986 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Note: Compare a very similar example without cover, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 May 2017, lot 3121.

A small carved Yue ‘floral’ jar, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), from the Dexinshuwu Collection, 4 1/4 in. (11 cm.) high. Price realised HKD 375,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 May 2017, lot 3121. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Lot 22. A Jun twin-handled jar, Jin dynasty (1115-1234), 5 in. (12.8 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 50,000 - HKD 70,000 (USD 6,432 - USD 9,004). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Provenance: Galaxie Art & Gift Company, Hong Kong, June 1984 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Note: Compare a similar jar from the Linyushanren Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 2810; and another sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2017, lot 108.

A Jun twin-handled jar, Jin dynasty (1115-1234), from the Linyushanren Collection, 4 3/4 in. (12 cm.) high. Price realised HKD 375,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 2810. © Christie's Images Ltd 2015

A Jun handled jar, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 4 3/4 in. (12 cm.) high. Price realised HKD 325,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2017, lot 108. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

This jar is potted with a globular body and flanked by two simple strap handles, covered with a thick glaze of even bluish-cream colour, the foot burnt brownish in the firing, Japanese wood box.

Lot 23. A white-glazed handled jar and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279), 10 7/8 in. (27.7 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 120,000 (USD 10,291 - USD 15,436). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, September 1985 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Lot 24. A Cizhou black-glazed russet-decorated ‘Floral’ globular wine jar, Song dynasty (960-1279), 9 1/8 in. (23.3 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000 (USD 7,718 - USD 10,291). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, July 1986 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Note: The present jar is comparable to the one from the Robert Barron Collection, illustrated in Heaven and Earth Seen Within: Song Ceramics from the Robert Barron Collection, New Orleans, 2000, pp.112-113, pl. 41, where it is described as a globular bottle.

Lot 25. A Cizhou painted ‘Chrysanthemum’ circular box and cover, Jin dynasty (1115-1234), 4 3/4 in. (12 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000 (USD 7,718 - USD 10,291). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The box is inscribed with three characters, renjiazao (made by the Ren family), in chocolate-brown, box.

Provenance: Alvin Lo Oriental Art Ltd.
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1987  

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Note: Compare a Cizhou circular covered box of similar compressed form, painted with a floral spray in dark slip, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, 28, (Shanxi taoci), Shanghai, 1984, no. 37.

Lot 26. A small Qingbai alms bowl, Song dynasty (960-1279), 2 1/2 in. (6.2 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 30,000 - HKD 50,000 (USD 3,859 - USD 6,432). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Lot 27. A pair of small Qingbai incised dishes and a Qingbai cup,Song dynasty (960-1279). All, 3 3/4 in. (9.4 cm.) diam., boxes. Estimate HKD 30,000 - HKD 50,000 (USD 3,859 - USD 6,432). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Provenance: Dishes: Acquired in Hong Kong, February 1983 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Lot 28. A group of seven glazed vessels, Five dynasties and later. The tallest: 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) high, boxes. Estimate HKD 50,000 - HKD 70,000 (USD 6,432 - USD 9,004). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Note: For related Song ceramic miniatures, see Early Chinese Miniatures, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, New York, 1977.

Lot 29. A set of four small white-glazed miniature vessels, a set of five Qingbai miniature altar vessels and a Ding-type miniature alms bowl, Five Dynasties-Song dynasty (907-1279). The tallest, 3 1/8 in. (8 cm.), high, boxes. Estimate HKD 40,000 - HKD 60,000 (USD 5,145 - USD 7,718). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Lot 30. A group of seven glazed containers, Song dynasty (960-1279). The tallest: 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 30,000 - HKD 50,000 (USD 3,859 - USD 6,432). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017  

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Lot 31. A group of ten brown-glazed miniature stoneware vessels, Song dynasty (960-1279). The tallest: 3 1/8 in. (7.8 cm.) high, boxes. Estimate HKD 70,000 - HKD 90,000 (USD 9,004 - USD 11,577). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017  

Property from the Mengdiexuan Collection.

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong

 Jan Davidsz de Heem, Still Life with Moor and Parrot, 1641. Oil on Panel. Hotel de Ville (Broodhuis), Brussels.

HAARLEM.- A Global Table runs in the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem from 23 September 2017 to 7 January 2018. This unique exhibition featuring old and new art showcases the magnificent food still lifes of the Golden Age. It offers an alternative reading of these works as documents from an eventful history. What does the food we see tell us about the Netherlands’ colonial and trade relations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Curatorial Fellow Abigail Winograd (Israel, 1983) initiates dialogues between some thirty exquisite still lifes and works by contemporary artists who are interested in world trade and the effects of colonialism. 

The Golden Age 
As quinoa and the avocado have changed European cooking over the last few decades, so, from the fifteenth century onwards, ‘new’ foodstuffs like coffee, sugar and tomatoes transformed our ancestors’ eating habits. From the end of that century European imperialism changed the map of the world and created a global trading network. The start of an emotionally charged exchange between peoples and cultures, it saw the import of new agricultural produce and foodstuffs from Africa, America, East and Southeast Asia and India. Before this, Europeans had no knowledge of tea, sugar, coffee, tomatoes, potatoes or maize. These new and, at the time, exotic types of food changed the European diet for ever. As the prime movers of international trade, the Dutch saw their economy boom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The huge abundance of wealth gave rise to a selfassured bourgeoisie that delighted in displaying its affluence. People had their portraits painted and they also wanted landscapes and seductive still lifes on their walls. It is no surprise that many of the new products feature in the Golden Age still lifes. 

The Still Life as a Historical Document 
A Global Table brings seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish still lifes by artists such as Floris van Dijck, Balthasar van der Ast, Clara Peeters, Jan de Heem and Willem Kalf face to face with works by contemporary artists like Nelson Leirner, Patricia van Kaersenhout and Ellen Gallagher. The Old Master paintings are not the subject of traditional art-historical analysis but rather ‘read’ as historical documents. The exhibition invites viewers to ask three simple questions about the foods in the still lifes: What are they? Where did they come from and how much did it cost – in terms of money and human suffering – to get them here? In finding answers to these questions, the paintings can be seen as documents charting the growth of economic power and colonial expansion of the Republic and the Dutch contribution to the creation of the world economy. 

Balthasar van der Ast, Still Life with Shells and Tulips, 1620. Oil on Panel, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Contemporary Art 
We want to know what we’re eating. In the last few decades artists have shown increasing interest in the socio-economic aspect of food production and consumption. The artworks by Felipe Arturo (Bogotá, 1979), Patricia Kaersenhout (Netherlands/Suriname, 1966), Ellen Gallagher (Providence, Rhode Island, 1965) and Shelley Sacks (Johannesburg) pose the same questions: What is the political and cultural significance of food? What are the effects of past colonial relations on the world trade in food and the distribution of wealth? 

 Felipe Arturo, La Disolución de la Geometría, 2014. Brown sugar, powder coffee, powdered milk, Instituto Devision, Bogota.

Transhistorical Curating Fellowship 
Abigail Winograd (Israel, 1983) is an independent exhibition maker, who gained her doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin. Her area of research encompasses PreColumbian, modern and contemporary Latin-American art. Holding the new Transhistorical Curating Fellowship, she is the first curator to stage an exhibition in the Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem in which the focus lies on finding meaningful and surprising ways to link old and contemporary art. 

23 September 2017 to 7 January 2018

 Nelson Leirner, Right You Are if You Think You Are…, 2003. Photograph, framed. Private collection

 Jan Davidsz de Heem, Still Life with Moor and Parrot, 1641. Oil on Panel. Hotel de Ville (Broodhuis), Brussels.

HAARLEM.- A Global Table runs in the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem from 23 September 2017 to 7 January 2018. This unique exhibition featuring old and new art showcases the magnificent food still lifes of the Golden Age. It offers an alternative reading of these works as documents from an eventful history. What does the food we see tell us about the Netherlands’ colonial and trade relations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Curatorial Fellow Abigail Winograd (Israel, 1983) initiates dialogues between some thirty exquisite still lifes and works by contemporary artists who are interested in world trade and the effects of colonialism. 

The Golden Age 
As quinoa and the avocado have changed European cooking over the last few decades, so, from the fifteenth century onwards, ‘new’ foodstuffs like coffee, sugar and tomatoes transformed our ancestors’ eating habits. From the end of that century European imperialism changed the map of the world and created a global trading network. The start of an emotionally charged exchange between peoples and cultures, it saw the import of new agricultural produce and foodstuffs from Africa, America, East and Southeast Asia and India. Before this, Europeans had no knowledge of tea, sugar, coffee, tomatoes, potatoes or maize. These new and, at the time, exotic types of food changed the European diet for ever. As the prime movers of international trade, the Dutch saw their economy boom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The huge abundance of wealth gave rise to a selfassured bourgeoisie that delighted in displaying its affluence. People had their portraits painted and they also wanted landscapes and seductive still lifes on their walls. It is no surprise that many of the new products feature in the Golden Age still lifes. 

The Still Life as a Historical Document 
A Global Table brings seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish still lifes by artists such as Floris van Dijck, Balthasar van der Ast, Clara Peeters, Jan de Heem and Willem Kalf face to face with works by contemporary artists like Nelson Leirner, Patricia van Kaersenhout and Ellen Gallagher. The Old Master paintings are not the subject of traditional art-historical analysis but rather ‘read’ as historical documents. The exhibition invites viewers to ask three simple questions about the foods in the still lifes: What are they? Where did they come from and how much did it cost – in terms of money and human suffering – to get them here? In finding answers to these questions, the paintings can be seen as documents charting the growth of economic power and colonial expansion of the Republic and the Dutch contribution to the creation of the world economy. 

Balthasar van der Ast, Still Life with Shells and Tulips, 1620. Oil on Panel, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Contemporary Art 
We want to know what we’re eating. In the last few decades artists have shown increasing interest in the socio-economic aspect of food production and consumption. The artworks by Felipe Arturo (Bogotá, 1979), Patricia Kaersenhout (Netherlands/Suriname, 1966), Ellen Gallagher (Providence, Rhode Island, 1965) and Shelley Sacks (Johannesburg) pose the same questions: What is the political and cultural significance of food? What are the effects of past colonial relations on the world trade in food and the distribution of wealth? 

 Felipe Arturo, La Disolución de la Geometría, 2014. Brown sugar, powder coffee, powdered milk, Instituto Devision, Bogota.

Transhistorical Curating Fellowship 
Abigail Winograd (Israel, 1983) is an independent exhibition maker, who gained her doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin. Her area of research encompasses PreColumbian, modern and contemporary Latin-American art. Holding the new Transhistorical Curating Fellowship, she is the first curator to stage an exhibition in the Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem in which the focus lies on finding meaningful and surprising ways to link old and contemporary art. 

23 September 2017 to 7 January 2018

Nelson Leirner, Right You Are if You Think You Are…, 2003. Photograph, framed. Private collection

Lot 1215. A finely painted small doucai'chicken' cup, Kangxi period (1662-1722), 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Lot 1217. An iron-red-decorated dish, Kangxi period (1662-1722), 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 20,000. Price realised USD 15,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The dish is decorated in the center with Shoulao seated holding alingzhi beside a recumbent spotted deer, and a staff suspending a basket filled with peaches, all within a band of bats on the everted rim. The exterior is decorated with petal lappets and a leafy band with flowers.

Note: The present dish is replete with wishes for long-life and prosperity, including the God of Longevity, a deer, peaches, lingzhi fungus and bats. According to R. E. Scott in For the Imperial Court: Qing Porcelain from the Percival David Foundation, London, 1997, p. 48, such dishes were unlikely actually to have been used during the birthday celebrations, but were probably presented to guests as a gift. 

Lot 1226. An iron-red and gilt-decorated bowl, Kangxi period (1662-1722), 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 8,125. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The exterior is decorated with four carp and one is in the center of the interior. An apocryphal Zhengde mark is on the base. 

Property from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1220. A famille verte jardinière, Kangxi period (1662-1722). 12 ½ in. (31.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 9,000. Price realised USD 6,875. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The jardinière is thickly potted and decorated on the deep sides with four fish, swimming amidst other smaller fish and aquatic plants. A bronze stand is affixed to the base. 

Property from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1222. A wucaigu-form beaker vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722), 21 ¾ in. (55.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 11,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Each register of the vase is decorated with blossoming peonies growing amidst blue rocks, with an addition of a pheasant in flight on the upper section, and with some gilt highlights.

Property from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1224. A famille verte 'Apricot blossom''Month' cup, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722), 2 in. (4.9 cm.) high. Estimate USD 25,000 - USD 35,000. Price realised USD 106,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The cup is delicately decorated on one side with a flowering apricot tree amidst grasses, rocks and plants, the reverse with a poetic inscription referring to the scene, followed by a single-character seal mark, shang (appreciation).

Property from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, New York.

Note: The poetic inscription reads: 

Qingxiang he suyu, jiase chu qingyan ('Its clear fragrance harmonizes with the scent of over-night rain, its beautiful color surpasses the brilliance of sunshine reflected off the haze.') 

The couplet is taken from the poem, In Reply to Zhangsun Yi for Sending me Apricot from Lanxi, by the Tang dynasty poet Qian Qi (AD 710-780).  

The flower depicted on this particular cup is apricot blossom (xinghua), the flower of the second lunar month. Since this was the month in which the imperial examinations were held, the apricot blossom has also become the 'successful candidate's flower', as well as being a symbol of a beautiful woman.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1219. A pair of aubergine and green-glazed 'Dragon' bowls, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722), 5 1/8 in. (13 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 25,000. Price realised USD 27,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The exterior of each bowl is incised with two five-clawed dragons striding amidst flames and clouds in pursuit of flaming pearls above a band of waves crashing on rocks, enameled in aubergine on a bright green ground, the interior glazed white.

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York.

Property from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, New York.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1841. Very Fine Intense Emerald Green Jadeite Hoop and Diamond Pendent Necklace. Estimate 15,000,000 — 20,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

The highly translucent jadeite hoop of intense emerald green colour, to the circular-cut diamond rondelle surmount, suspended from a black cord. Hoop approximately 53.72 x 22.43 x 9.70 mm.

Lot 1839. Important Jadeite Bangle. Estimate 14,000,000 — 18,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

The highly translucent jadeite bangle with a section of brilliant emerald green colour to light green background, suffused with intense emerald green streaks, with flattened inner rim. Inner diameter and thickness approximately 57.80 x 14.25mm.

Lot 1216. A wucai and doucai 'Dragon' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735),  7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 18,000. Price realised USD 17,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The dish is decorated in the center with a green-enameled five-clawed dragon reaching for a flaming pearl, below five striding five-clawed dragons in pursuit of pearls in underglaze blue below the gilt rim. The exterior is decorated with four phoenix in flight amid cloud scrolls. 

Note: Compare the similar Yongzheng-marked dish sold at Christie's London, 14 May 2013, lot 224.

A rare doucai 'Dragon' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735), 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam.  Sold for GBP 97,875 at Christie's London, 14 May 2013, lot 224. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

(Cf. my post A rare doucai 'Dragon' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735)

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1210. A small Ming-style blue and white cylindrical jar, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735), 4 in. (10 cm.) high. Estimate USD 18,000 - USD 25,000. Price realised USD 22,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The cylindrical body is decorated in underglaze blue with simulated 'heaping and piling' with lotus sprays set within a star-pattern formed by ten rhomboid petals and reserved on a complex geometric pattern-ground, between a band of flower scroll on the shoulder and a band of crested waves above the foot.

Provenance: Sotheby's Paris, 18 December 2012, lot 49.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York

Lot 1864. Very Rare and Important 5.14 carats Type IIb, SI1 Clarity Fancy Deep Blue Diamond Ring. Estimate 55,000,000 — 75,000,000 HKD. hoto: Sotheby's.

Set with a pear-shaped fancy deep blue diamond weighing 5.14 carats, mounted in 18 karat white gold. Ring size: 6

ccompanied by GIA report numbered 2175295375, dated 25 September 2015, stating that the 5.14 carat diamond is natural, Fancy Deep Blue Colour, SI1 Clarity; also accompanied by a diamond type classification report stating that the diamond is determined to be a Type IIb diamond.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 01:30 PM

Lot 1854. Very Fine Unmounted 31.98 carats Type IIa Diamond. Estimate 37,000,000 — 48,000,000 HKD. hoto: Sotheby's.

The brilliant-cut diamond weighing 31.98 carats.

Accompanied by GIA report numbered 2185519521, dated 5 July 2017, stating that the 31.98 carat diamond is D Colour, Flawless, with Excellent Cut, Polish and Symmetry; further accompanied by diamond type classification report stating that the diamond is determined to be Type IIa diamond. Type IIa diamonds are the most chemically pure type of diamond and often have exceptional optical transparency.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2017, 01:30 PM

Lot 1212. Two blue and white bowls, Qianlong six-character seal marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795), 5 ¼ in. (13.3 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Each is decorated on the exterior with a band of bats suspending scrolling double-gourd vines between narrow bands of leafy scroll and lotus lappets. The interior similarly decorated with bats and double-gourds within a double circle.

Note: Compare the pair of Yongzheng bowls with similar 'bats and gourds' pattern, but rendered in famille rose enamels, illustrated in Sun Yingzhou de taoci shijie (Sun Yingzhou's World of Ceramics), Beijing, 2005, pp. 212-213, no. 129.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York