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Lot Essay
In the Qing court records, it is documented that in the 45th year of the Qianlong reign (1780), a large number of cloisonné enamel bowls and dishes decorated with wanshou wujiang characters were produced for the celebration of the Emperor's 70th birthday.
Compare the present lot to a pair of similar bowls, of comparable size, illustrated by Claudia Brown in Chinese Cloisonné: The Clague Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, 1980, pp. 122-23, pl. 56. Other examples have been sold at auction: a pair at Christie's New York, 20 March 2001, lot 53; a single bowl at Sotheby's London, 4 November 2009, lot 144; and another one at Christie's New York, 18 September 2014, lot 625. Bowls of this type in varying sizes are known, including one in the Clague Collection, one in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin, and six in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Bowls of the same design, but smaller (3¾ and 4 in.) and with deeper sides, have been sold at Christie's Hong Kong: a pair, 28 November 2006, lot 1678, and a single bowl with Qianlong mark, 29 May 2013, lot 2073. See, also, the two bowls of the same design, and of the aforementioned shape, bearing the same zisun yongbao marks, in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (2) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pls. 281 and 282.
Compare the present lot to a pair of similar bowls, of comparable size, illustrated by Claudia Brown in Chinese Cloisonné: The Clague Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, 1980, pp. 122-23, pl. 56. Other examples have been sold at auction: a pair at Christie's New York, 20 March 2001, lot 53; a single bowl at Sotheby's London, 4 November 2009, lot 144; and another one at Christie's New York, 18 September 2014, lot 625. Bowls of this type in varying sizes are known, including one in the Clague Collection, one in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin, and six in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Bowls of the same design, but smaller (3¾ and 4 in.) and with deeper sides, have been sold at Christie's Hong Kong: a pair, 28 November 2006, lot 1678, and a single bowl with Qianlong mark, 29 May 2013, lot 2073. See, also, the two bowls of the same design, and of the aforementioned shape, bearing the same zisun yongbao marks, in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum - Enamels (2) - Cloisonne in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pls. 281 and 282.