A RARE FAMILLE-ROSE 'POPPY' BOWL, YONGZHENG MARK AND PERIOD | 清雍正 粉彩虞美人紋小盌 《大清雍正年製》款

This charming bowl belongs to a small group of wares finely enamelled with brightly coloured stems of poppies against a pure white porcelain body. This elegant and restrained motif appears to have been inspired by famille-verte cups of the Kangxi period (r. 1662-1722), which were sparsely decorated with branches of flowers or fruits. Bowls of this type display an increased interest in the pureness of the porcelain body and a greater emphasis on the naturalistic rendering of flowers, made possible by the development of the enamels of the famille-rose palette.

Bowls painted with this motif of poppies are held in important museums and private collections worldwide; a bowl from the collection of Sir Percival David, now in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Rosemary Scott, Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Ware in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1991, pl. 821; another example from the Guy Mayer collection is illustrated in Warren Cox, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, vol. II, New York, 1946, fig. 871; a pair from the collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd November 1998, lot 961; and a further bowl, included in the exhibition Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Christie's London, 1993, cat. no. 89, was sold in these rooms, 12th June 1990, lot 322.

此盌出自一組相近作例，花梗鮮豔，白地明淨，紋飾典雅含蓄，似出自康熙五彩盃例，此類盌展示品味轉向欣賞瓷胎潔淨之美，花卉紋飾刻劃亦轉趨自然，此風格或因粉彩瓷出現而衍生。

飾此紋飾之盌，見於主要博物館及重要私人收藏，比較一例，大維德爵士舊藏，現存於倫敦大英博物院，載於Rosemary Scott，《Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Ware in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art》，倫敦，1991年，圖版821；另一例出自Guy Mayer收藏，圖載於 Warren Cox，《The Book of Pottery and Porcelain》，卷II，紐約，1946年，圖871；再比一對例，出自徐氏藝術館，售於香港佳士得1998年11月3日，編號961；另一例曾展於《Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection》，倫敦佳士得1993年，編號89，售於倫敦蘇富比1990年6月12日，編號 322。