QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The exterior is finely decorated in bright enamels with a continuous scene of the ‘hundred boys’ celebrating the Lantern Festival, the children depicted in animated groups riding bamboo horses, performing dragon dance, playing musical instruments such as the drum, horn and cymbal, lighting firecrackers and carrying various auspicious emblems.

The festive nature of this design brings much animation and vivacity to the bowl. Traditionally, the motif of children at play represents the wish for abundant offsprings, good blessings, and wealth. A number of Qianlong vases of this subject were made, but very few bowls are known, since it would have been remarkably difficult to paint numerous children at play on such a small porcelain surface. Compare a large vase, a small jar, and a lantern vase decorated with this subject matter, all preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, no.121, no.128, and no. 132. Compare also a Qianlong yangcai ‘boys’ vase sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2018, lot 2752.