A slip-decorated blue-ground 'fish' bowl, Mark and period of Yongzheng 清雍正 藍地堆白花荷塘魚藻紋合盌 《大清雍正年製》款

The design of 'fish amongst aquatic plants' was inspired by early 15th century Ming wares and was especially favoured by the Yongzheng emperor, who was an enthusiast for promoting Xuande and Yongle porcelain reproductions. For examples of the Ming design, see a Xuande dish included in the Special Exhibition of Hsuan-te Wares, Taipei Palace Museum, 1980, cat. no. 83, and another dish illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 64. See also a Yongzheng bowl of this design without cover from the Grandidier collection in the Musee Guimet, illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, pls 157 and 158; and a similar example without cover, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 3005.

Yongzheng bowls of this design originally had a domed cover surmounted by a phoenix finial. See an example complete with its cover in the Honolulu Academy of Arts, illustrated in ibid., vol. 12, 1956, pl. 56. Another bowl and cover from the collections of George de Menasce, Pierre de Menasce and F. Gordon Morrill, and included in a number of important exhibitions such as the Oriental Ceramic Society's jubilee exhibition The Ceramic Art of China, London, 1971, cat. no. 234, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th May 1987, lot 586. Further examples were sold in our Paris rooms, 12th June 2008, lot 331; and at Christie's New York, 14th September 2012, lot 1466.