YONGZHENG PERIOD (1723-1735)

The design of this bowl is referred to as luo hua liu shui (falling flowers on flowing water), a motif popular in Ming dynasty poetry and painting (see S. Pierson, Designs as Signs: Decoration and Chinese Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 51). A bowl with a very similar design, but with the addition of an apocryphal Chenghua mark, is published by R. Scott, “Further Discoveries from the Imperial Kiln Site at Jingdezhen,” Orientations, vol. 23, no. 4, April 1992, p. 55, fig. 24. The design itself is based on Chenghua-period prototypes, exemplified by a doucai bowl with the same luo hua liu shui design, excavated at Jingdezhen published by ibid., fig. 25. This cup is the only known Chenghua-period example decorated with this motif. An exquisite doucai moon flask dated to the Yongzheng period with a similar design of a prunus branch over flowing water was sold at Christie’s New York, 23 March 2023, lot 1060.