A CHINESE DOUCAI BOWL

SIX CHARACTER QIANLONG MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1736-95

The ogee-shaped bowl decorated with a central six-pointed medallion formed from ruyi-heads, the rim with six lingzhi motifs, the exterior painted with a continuous flowering lotus scroll, beneath the eight Buddhist Emblems, the foot with a band of lappets, 22cm.

Provenance: a private collection in the south of England, purchased in Shanghai in the 1920s, and thence by descent.

Cf. Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-Hua Porcelain Ware, 1465-1487, p.180, no.188, where a prototype of this design is illustrated. See also Christie's, 19th March 2008, lot 623, for a similar Qianlong bowl of this design.