An Imperial Chinese Ceramic Bowl Sells for US$25 Million at Sotheby’s

An 18th-century imperial porcelain bowl that had remained in private hands sold for HK$198 million (about US$25.4 million) at a Sotheby's sale of Chinese works of art in Hong Kong over the weekend.

Measuring under 4.5 inches (11.3 centimeters) in diameter, the Falangcai bowl was offered as a single-lot sale on Saturday morning at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. It sold to an anonymous buyer at the hammer price of HK$170 million, below its presale estimate of over HK$200 million.

The consignor was Hong Kong-based art collector and philanthropist Alice Cheng, who acquired the piece in 2006 for HK$151 million at Christie's Hong Kong, a then-record price for any work of art sold in Asia and a world record for a Qing dynasty ceramic, according to Sotheby's.

The delicate, creamy white bowl blends paintings, poetry, and calligraphy, and features motifs of two swallows, a fruit tree in bloom, and a willow sprouting its first leaves. One side is inscribed with a poem said to have been commissioned by the Wanli Emperor, who reigned from 1573 to 1620, that reads: "Scissors of jade cut through the flowers, Like rainbow garments brought back from the moon."

This type of porcelain, known as Falangcai (foreign colors), is among the rarest and most sought-after wares of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). While porcelain items were produced in the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, they were enameled close to the imperial workshops in the Forbidden City in Beijing to enable the emperors to follow and examine the results first hand.

The bowl has a Qianlong reign mark (1736-95), but its quality and decorative style is characteristic of the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735). And most of such rare porcelain wares are preserved in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, Sotheby's said.

Sotheby's spring sales series of Chinese art across nine auctions in Hong Kong brought in a total of HK$1.64 billion, the most in the category in nine years, Sotheby's said.

"To reaffirm Sotheby's continuous leadership in Chinese Art, and witness some exceptional results this season, feels particularly poignant amidst a year in which we celebrate our 50th anniversary in Asia," Nicolas Chow, Sotheby's chairman of Asia and worldwide head and chairman of Chinese works of art, said in a release.

Other highlights from the series include a painting by Zhang Daqian, Pink Lotuses on Gold Screen, 1973, which sold for HK$251.6 million at a single-lot auction on Wednesday evening, an auction record for the artist; and a 15th-century blue-and-white ewer from the collection of shipping tycoon T.Y. Chao, which sold for HK$107 million at a single-lot auction on Saturday.