A CHINESE IMPERIAL FAMILLE ROSE 'BITTER MELON' BOWL AND COVER

SIX CHARACTER DAOGUANG MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD 1821-50

The U-shaped bowl rising from a short straight foot to an everted rim, finely painted to the exterior and interior with pink butterflies in flight amidst fruiting and flowering bitter melon vines and bamboo branches, the top and underside of the cover similarly decorated, with the reign marks in underglaze blue, 11.4cm dia. (2)

Provenance: purchased from Sotheby's Australia on 18th July 2018, lot 227. A copy of the invoice is available.

The image of butterflies, die, together with melons or gourds, gua, conveys the wish for endless generations of sons and grandsons, gua die mianmian.

Cf. Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25th November 1980, lot 170 for a pair of similar Daoguang mark and period bowls and covers from the Edward T Chow Collection; see also Roger Keverne, Winter Exhibition 2007, pp.64-65, no.50 for another pair of Daoguang bowls and covers with this design; see also Christie's London, 4th November 2010, lot 231 for another similar bowl and cover; see also Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol.7, pl.91 for a similarly decorated Qianlong bowl in the collection of the Musée Guimet, Paris.