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Lot Essay
The poem on the bowl, Sanqing cha (The Purity Tea) was one of the Qianlong Emperor's favourites. It described the tea made from prunus, finger citron, and pine nut kernels, and extols the virtues of tea making. Each New Year the emperor would hold a tea-drinking banquet and his guests would be invited to compose poetry. A bowl such as the present example would have been awarded to the best poet.
An identical bowl is in the collection of the National Palace Museum and is illustrated in Emperor Qianlong's Grand Cultural Enterprise, Taipei, 2002, no. 51, another is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Life of Emperor Qianlong, Macao Museum of Art, Macao, 2002, no. 79. Three other bowls of this design are illustrated and discussed by P. Lam in 'Tang Yin (1682-1756): The Imperial Factory Superintendent at Jingdezhen', T.O.C.S , London, vol. 63, 1998-1999, p. 69, fig. 4.
See, also, a similar bowl sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 27 April 2003, lot 30, and compare the current lot to a pair of bowls also Qianlong period but decorated with bamboo rather than prunus in the central roundel sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 April 1997, lot 790.
An identical bowl is in the collection of the National Palace Museum and is illustrated in Emperor Qianlong's Grand Cultural Enterprise, Taipei, 2002, no. 51, another is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Life of Emperor Qianlong, Macao Museum of Art, Macao, 2002, no. 79. Three other bowls of this design are illustrated and discussed by P. Lam in 'Tang Yin (1682-1756): The Imperial Factory Superintendent at Jingdezhen', T.O.C.S , London, vol. 63, 1998-1999, p. 69, fig. 4.
See, also, a similar bowl sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 27 April 2003, lot 30, and compare the current lot to a pair of bowls also Qianlong period but decorated with bamboo rather than prunus in the central roundel sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 April 1997, lot 790.