A copper-red 'three fish' bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period. Photo Bonhams
The exterior decorated with three evenly-spaced fish in rich copper-red thinning at the top and pooling at the bottom, the interior glazed white. 22.8cm (8 7/8in) diam. Estimate£20,000 - 30,000 (€24,000 - 36,000)
Provenance: Sotheby's London, 17 December 1996, lot 90
The Inder Rieden Collection.
It is particularly rare to find bowls of this design in this relatively large size. However, a pair of bowls from the E.T.Chow Collection (each 22.5cm diameter) was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 115. Another, measuring 22.6cm diameter, in the Nanjing Museum is illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.162.
For the Ming prototype of this bowl, see the Xuande-marked example illustrated in Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, Catalogue no.75.
Another similar bowl was sold in these rooms, 11 November 2010, lot 317.
Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART. London, New Bond Street, 15 May 2014 - www.bonhams.com