Although they were thought to be 20th century pieces with apocryphal reign marks, they were deemed, at least by some, to be of the period.
Estimated at just £200-300 but sold at £50,000 was an unusual pair of Sanduo bowls, decorated with underglaze copper red fruits against a powder blue ground with Kangxi marks. Pieces of this type take their name from decoration of three fruits – the peach pomegranate and persimmon – that together are known as the three abundances (sanduo).
Made in both the Kangxi and the Yongzheng periods, they are more typically seen only in copper red. A pair of this type with Kangxi marks sold for a similar sum – HK$450,000 (£45,000) – at Christie’s Hong Kong in October 2019.
A pair of wucai ‘dragon and phoenix’ bowls with Qianlong marks were similarly competed to £18,000 while a pair of doucai bowls with Daoguang (1820-50) seal marks made £28,000.
