A fine pair of copper-red decorated 'dragon roundel' bowls, Kangxi six-character marks within double circles and of the period

Lot 3428. A fine pair of copper-red decorated 'dragon roundel' bowls, Kangxi six-character marks within double circles and of the period (1662-1722); 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,500,000 - HKD 2,500,000. Price Realized HKD 2,200,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2014

Each is finely decorated in copper red of a bright strawberry tone with five dragon roundels on the exterior, and a further dragon in the centre of the interior.

Provenance: The J.M. Hu Family Collection
Sold at Sotheby's New York, 4 June 1985, lot 22
A European private collection.

Note: A bowl of this pattern, size and date is illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, no. 733; one is in the Baur Collection, illustrated by Ayers in the Catalogue, vol. IV, Geneva, 1974, no. A530, where the author mentions another in the Royal Ontario Museum; and a pair is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci daxi (Chinese Ceramics Series), Qingdai taoci daquan (Qing Ceramics , Taipei, 1987, p. 121 (bottom).

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 28 May 2014