Posted By: Bill H
Posted Date: Dec 21, 2015 (05:32 AM)
Here are photos of a 4 inch diameter & 2-5/8 inch high Guangxu mark & period bowl, which while not imperial, may help provide some reference points. This mustard yellow glaze is known during the Guangxu period and also shows typical iridescence in glancing light. The white-glazed base has a well-written six-character Guangxu mark but with bubble bursts and granularity evident in the cobalt strokes, also a known condition issue during the period because of the inferior quality of cobalt available to the kilns under the poor economy of the times.
As part of my research of this bowl after buying it a dozen years ago, I sent Sotheby's in New York some photos of it with a request for an auction potential appraisal. Meanwhile, I had occasion to mention what I'd done to the eBay seller, who only then told me the bowl had been owned at one time by the eminent Hong Kong collector Edward T. Chow. I'd been in Hong Kong in May 1981 when Sotheby Parke Bernet was about to hold one of the E.T. Chow sales, so had been able to attend the preview and was a bit incredulous of the seller's contention. A few weeks after my submission, my contact at Sotheby's emailed back to say that the cup was a bit rough in spots for their auctions, though it had been shown to their then Asian Department Chairman and preeminent Asian porcelain expert, the late Julian Thompson, who had agreed that the bowl is mark & period.
Since Thompson had been with Sotheby's Hong Kong when the Chow collection was cataloged under his purview, I had pause to wonder if he might have recognized the piece more than 20 years later as one of his own rejects from those fabulous sales. Never did find out for sure, though.
Best regards,
Bill H.
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