Chinese imperial porcelain famille rose, fencai bowl, Qianlong six-character sealmark in underglaze blue and of the period, 1736-1795. Photo Marchant.
with steep rounded side and cylindrical footrim, painted on the exterior with three pink peony flowerheads on green branches, with leaves on an opaque lemon-yellow ground surrounded by further branches with leaves, between nine blue flowerheads on a brilliant coral-red ground extending to the foot, the interior glazed white. 4 ⅜ inches, 11 cm diameter. The base with a six-character sealmark of Qianlong in underglaze blue and of the period, 1736-1795. Price on request
Provenance: From the collection of Sir Arthur Sims (1877-1969).
Arthur Sims was born in Spridlington, Lincolnshire. He played first class cricket in New Zealand and for Canterbury and on occasions in Australia where he captained an Australian XI in 1913, putting on 433 runs for the 8th wicket with Victor Trumper. It was, and still is, the world record for that wicket in first class cricket. He was knighted in the 1950 New Year Honours List for services to medicine and education in the British Commonwealth. He founded the Sir Arthur Sims Scholarship for graduates of Australian and Canadian Universities to study in the United Kingdom.
Purchased from John Sparks Ltd., 128 Mount Street, London, circa 1950.
Notes: An identical bowl is illustrated by Julian Thompson in Imperial Perfection, the Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, A Selection from the Wang Xing Lou Collection, no. 58, pp. 162/3, where the author notes, ‘the decoration of this bowl, using two contrasting colour grounds, is inspired by the Kangxi wares decorated in the Imperial Palace workshop, though the treatment of the scroll patterns is here more detailed and complex. Unlike the Kangxi bowls, the palette includes the combination of coral-red and translucent green enamel, colours taken from the wucai, or ‘famille verte’ palette, with the opaque enamels of the ‘famille rose’
An identical bowl, The Property of a Lady, was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong in The Imperial Sale, 30th May 2012, lot no. 3994, pp. 108/9; another was sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of Important Chinese Porcelain, Enamels and Jade Carvings from the Works of Art Collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, 16th May 1989, lot 81, and is also illustrated by Ho Kam-chuen in Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Jointly Presented by the Urban Council Hong Kong and the Min Chiu Society, organised by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1992, no. 159, 292.
The only recorded pair of bowls of this pattern which bear Yongzheng yuzhi marks in underglaze blue was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong in their auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art, Jade and Jadeite Carvings and Snuff Bottles, 30th April- 2nd May 1995, lot 668, pp.133/4.
A Kangxi pink-enamel yuzhi marked prototype is illustrated by Yang Xin in Porcelains with Cloisonné Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, Vol. 39, no. 2, p. 4.
Bowls of this pattern continued to be made in at least four of the later Qing reigns. A pair of Daoguang mark and period examples were included by Marchant in their catalogue of Recent Acquisitions, 2008, no. 44, pp. 98/9.