A LARGE FAMILLE ROSE MANDARIN-PATTERN 'FOX HUNTING' PUNCH BOWL Qianlong period, circa 1770-80 The massive bowl brilliantly painted with two large English fox hunting scenes in the style of James Seymour to the exterior and a bird hunting scene to the interior, one large panel with a foreground scene of dogs released from their kennels and surrounding a hunter atop his horse with whip in hand, behind in the mid-distance is a scene of a hunt in full gallop, with one rider blowing his horn and another cracking his whip as a fox with hounds baying behind him attempting to escape by clambering on to a tree and nearby bushes, a backdrop of formidable European buildings in the distance, the other panel similarly painted but the hunt in the foreground and moving in the opposite direction but also terminating with a fox attempting an escape by way of a tree, a dis-mounted rider with his hounds in the mid-distance, each panel is further divided by bamboo-edged bird cartouches and all are reserved against an iron-red and gilt 'mandarin' pattern Y -shaped ground, the interior of the bowl with a small circular roundel depiction a walking hunter with a rifle following his two dogs, who corner a pair of pheasants in bushes to one side, the well plain and a band of cell pattern and rocaille scrollwork below the rim panels reserved on an elaborate mandarin palette border. 16in (40.3cm) diam Footnotes: 乾隆時期 約1770-80年 粉彩描金人物故事《獵狐》圖大件潘趣酒碗 Published: Cohen & Cohen, A Game of Bowls, Gent, 2014, pp. 92-93, no. 65 出版： 倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《A Game of Bowls》，根特，2014年，頁92-93，圖版編號65 Hunting bowls were popular in the second half of the eighteenth century and many different versions are known. This is a fine example of a high-quality bowl with decoration that places it in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The hunting scenes on the outside are reminiscent of the hunting scenes by one of the leading artists of this genre, James Seymour, which were later engraved by the likes of Thomas Burford and P Canot. The buildings however are more elaborate in the capriccio tradition. However, the scene to the interior of this bowl, a bird hunting depiction, is a close copy of a print by Thomas Burford, 'Pointers and Pheasants'. (fig. 1) It is not known if this engraving was copied from a Seymour painting but we do know that Burford did engrave other dog hunting scenes after Seymour originals and that such depiction cxan be found on another Chinese export punchbowl. References: Lange, 2005, p. 222, a very similar bowl to this but with different interior; Brawer, 1992, p. 117, no. 90, an identical bowl; some examples of other hunting bowls can be found at: Howard, 1997, no. 144; Howard & Ayers, 1978, p. 281-3, no. 280; Howard, 1994, p. 231; Lloyd Hyde, 1964, Color plate B; Phillips, 1956, p. 141, pl. 59; Cohen & Cohen, 2007, p. 54-6, nos. 32, 33; Cohen & Cohen, 2008, 52, no. 35; Hervouet, and Bruneau, 1986, nos. 3.25a-b; British Museum, (Franks.625.a); Krahl & Harrison-Hall, 1994, no. 46; Buerdely, 1962, fig. 44; Litzenberg, 2003, p. 168-9, no. 163; Antunes, 2000, p. 106-7, bowl with one scene the same as on this bowl.