Qianlong lacquer-imitation bowl, simulated fossilized stone peach-form box and cover & 'Faux bois' bowl
A fine and rare lacquer-imitation bowl. Qianlong Seal Mark and Period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the rounded sides supported by a short straight foot rising to an everted rim, the exterior finely painted with two butterflies melons and flowers on leafy scrolling vines enameled in red with details picked out in gilt, all reserved on a glossy black ground the rim decorated with a thick gold border, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in gilding; diameter 5 in., 12.6 cm - Estimate 70,000 - 90,000 USD
NOTE: Several pieces of porcelain imitating carved cinnabar lacquer are known. However, it is much rarer to find a porcelain vessel with a design that imitates painted lacquer such as the present bowl and no related example appears to have been published. The present bowl is decorated to simulate a sumptuous lacquer design painted in gold and red on a mirror-black ground which can be found on lacquerware of the late 17th and 18th centuries. Compare, for example, a small silver bowl with a similar painted lacquer design, published in Lacquer Treasures from China Pre-Qin - Qing dynasty, Vol. 6, Fujian, 1993, pl. 142. For a small Yixing teapot with a similar painted design on a black ground, compare ibid., pl. 141.
A rare simulated fossilized stone peach-form box and cover. Qianlong Seal Mark and Period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
in the form of a flattened peach, the slightly domed cover molded with an indented stroke to delineate the peach form, the base with short rounded sides supported by a short straight foot, enameled overall to simulate fossilized stone with a dense pebble pattern in grisaille, brown and iron red on a pale coral-red ground, the underside inscribed with a six-character Qianlong seal (2); Width: 3 7/8 inches-length 3 1/8 in., 8 cm - Estimate 60,000 - 80,000 USD
PROVENANCE: Christie's Hong Kong, 7th April 1993, lot 772.
NOTE: The decoration on this small box and cover may be in imitation of limestone as there appear to be shell-like fossils painted among the design. They bring to mind a porcelain imitation of a conch shell, published in Ceramics Gallery of the Palace Museum, Part II, Beijing, 2008, pl. 374. However, no other limestone-imitation porcelain boxes appear to have been published, but puddingstone examples can be found in several collections. A puddingstone imitation censer as well as as a box and cover in the Palace Museum Collection, are illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1989. Another puddingstone imitation box and cover from the Wang Xing Lou Collection, is published in Imperial Perfection: The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Hong Kong, 2004, pl. 55.
A 'Faux bois' bowl. Qianlong Seal Mark and Period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the shallow rounded sides resting on a short tapered foot rising to an everted rim, painted on the exterior with swirls of chest and ochre browns in imitation of wood, the interior painted gold, the base with a sunken central circle glazed white and inscribed with an underglaze-blue sealmark; diameter 4 5/8 in., 11.7 cm - Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 USD
NOTE: A very similar bowl but with faux-bois decoration to the interior sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October 2007, lot 1530.
Sotheby's. Fine Ceramics and works of Art. 15 Sept 2010. New York www.sothebys.com