A fine and rare blue and white 'hundred boys' bowl, Seal mark and period of Qianlong

Collection of Sir Thomas Beaumont Hohler (1871-1946), and thence by descent.

This lively design of boys at play traces its origins back to the Song dynasty and bears a close resemblance to a group of bowls generally attributed to the Chenghua period (1465-87). Compare two possible prototypes of Chenghua mark and period in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Ming Chenghua ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of Chenghua porcelain], Taipei, 1976, cat. nos 109 and 110; and three more of related design excavated from the Chenghua stratum at Jingdezhen, included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, vol I, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2016, pls 51-53.

For other Qianlong bowls of this design, compare a bowl sold in these rooms, 9th November 2018, lot 439; and another, sold at Christie’s New York, 17th March 2017, lot 1224. Compare also a number of later bowls inspired by the present design, including two from the Jiaqing and Guangxu reigns in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pls 150 and 161; and another, of Daoguang mark and period, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, acc. no. 2022.73.10.