A legendary piece of Chinese porcelain, a tiny bowl with the mark of emperor Qianlong, is set to go on auction on April 8th, and is expected to fetch over €23m. The bowl, measuring just 11.3cm across, was last sold in 2006 to Dr Alice Cheng, who bought it from her brother Robert Chang. Cheng initially had no intention of purchasing the bowl, but her interest grew during the bidding process.
Considered to be one of the world’s greatest imperial porcelain in private hands, the bowl was painted by master court enamellers in Beijing, nearby the emperor himself. It depicts swallows beside a flowering apricot tree, intertwined with a willow tree, and contains a short poem.
The falangcai porcelain is rare and sought-after, painted in the imperial workshops of the Forbidden City in Beijing, and is among the most legendary pieces ever to have been offered at auction. The receptacle was part of a pair once owned by Captain Charles Oswald Liddell, who formed his collection in China. The other bowl was sold to Mountstuart William Elphinstone and later acquired by Percival David. It is currently on long-term loan to the British Museum.
The bowl has a fascinating history, having been owned by Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton before ending up in the collection of Robert Chang, who is renowned for having one of the world’s best collections of Chinese art. His younger sister Dr Alice Cheng, who is managing director of Chinese Taching Petroleum and a representative of powerful Beijing-based advisory body the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, is now tasked with selling it through Sotheby’s in Hong Kong.
If the bowl achieves the estimated sale price of $HK200 million (€23.7m), it will be a tidy return on Cheng’s initial investment in the bowl, and will undoubtedly make headlines once again.
