Rare Qing dynasty enamel bowl set to break records at auction

(1 Mar 2018) LEAD IN:
A rare bowl made for the longest-reigning Chinese emperor is expected to be sold for a record-breaking price at auction.
The gold and pink enamel bowl is one of only a few of its kind made for the Kangxi Emperor and has an estimated sales price of more than 25 million US dollars.

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This delicate enamel bowl is set to become a record breaker.
Sotheby's auction house expects it will become the most expensive Chinese ceramic item ever sold when it goes under the hammer in April.
It's expected to sell for more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars (25.6 million US dollars).
The Qing Dynasty bowl is extremely rare, says Nicolas Chow, Sotheby's International Head of Chinese Works of Art.
"This bowl was part of an extremely exclusive production, a very small production, made for the Kangxi Emperor at the imperial workshops on the premises of the Forbidden City, in very close proximity of where he lived," he says.
"And so they couldn't produce many of those, and this was a time when they were experimenting with a new visual language, materials imported from Europe. And so there are very very few even surviving in museum collections. This one is probably the finest surviving from the period, and of all the colours used, the pink was probably the rarest."
He says it's the only bowl ever recorded with this design.
A similar bowl exists in Taipei with the same rare colours but a different floral design, Sotheby's says.
The Kangxi Emperor, who reigned from 1661 to 1722, was interested in ceramics and art.
But the pink and blue enamel imported from Europe were not commonly used in Chinese ceramics during the Kangxi period.
The stamp under the bowl shows that it was made exclusively for the emperor's own use - that's why it's so expensive.  
"And Qing wares, in the market have been the most sought after generally. And of all the Qing wares, Falancai, wares that were made for the personal use of the Emperor only with marks like these, Kangxi Yu Zhi (translated as made by the imperial order of the Kangxi Emperor), are the most sought after, the most exclusive, the finest, and therefore the most expensive" Chow says.
"We expect the piece to sell in excess of 200 million (Hong Kong dollars), but there's very very high chance in my view it will break a new world record for Chinese ceramics."
The auction house said the bowl was created by potters in the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen and then painted in the Forbidden City in the Imperial Palace workshops.
Sotheby's says the bowl was once owned by the collector Henry M. Knight and has not been up for sale for more than 30 years.
Chow says he is not worried that the tightening of capital controls will affect sales of Chinese art.
"Well the tightening of capital control in the last, I would say, year, obviously affects the mood maybe of some of the collectors, but the important thing is actually when the material is rare and desirable, definitely I think the money is there," he says.
"And what we saw last season, despite the tightening of capital control, we had the biggest sale we've had in 10 years. And so I think really the market relies on quality, rarity, and if this is what we have on offer I am not at all worried."
Other highlights of the sales will be a Chinese ink handscroll, "Ten Auspicious Landscapes of Taishan" by Qian Weicheng, estimated at between 6.41 and 8.97 million US dollars, and two Buddhist Sutra albums made in the Ming Dynasty.  
The bowl and other items, along with other Chinese works of art, will be sold in the auction at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 3 April 2018.

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