Chinese blue and white bowl, 5" dia. The bowl is exquisitely potted with smooth rounded sides, gracefully rising from a tapered foot to a slightly flared rim, finely painted in muted washes of cobalt-blue accented with sharp outlines of a deeper hue, the exterior with three large clusters of plump ripe melon vine, all differently rendered with seven or eight fruits, the thin curling tendrils counterbalanced by the thick broad leaves, framed by double-line borders at the rim and foot, the interior left undecorated, thinly veiled overall in a most sensual unctuous glaze, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle. Provenance: Private estate collection, Rockville, MD.