a small finely enamelled 'carp' cup Qing dynasty, Kangxi period

extremely finely potted, the rounded sides supported on a short tapering foot rising to a flared rim, decorated around the exterior with three long-tailed carp in iron-red with eyes picked out in black, separated by green sprays of pond weed, the interior moulded in anhua with a dragon and a phoenix, the base inscribed in underglaze-blue with an apocryphal Da Ming Chenghua nian zhi mark within a double-square

Sotheby’s London, 6th July 1971, lot 171.
Collection of Edward T. Chow.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19th May 1981, lot 569.

Selected Works of Ancient Chinese Art, Bronze, Sculpture, Ceramics, ‘Three Thousand Years of China: The Beauty of Beauty', Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1973, cat.no. 80.

Bowls of this form are rare although another pair painted with very similar pattern, from the collection of Winston Guest, was sold in our New York rooms, 2nd December 1967, lot 90. A pair of bowls of more shallow shape but with related decoration, from the Collection of H.M. Knight and included in the exhibition Oosterse Schatten, 4000 Jaar Aziatische Kunst, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1854, cat.no. 359, was sold in our London rooms, 12th May 1970.