YELLOW-GROUND GREEN-ENAMELLED 'PEACH TREES' BOWL QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG MARK, 18TH-19TH CENTURY 清 乾隆款 黃地綠彩桃樹紋碗 thinly potted with deep rounded sides raised on straight foot, incised on the body with birds in flight between fruiting peach trees issuing from rockwork, the decoration enamelled in green against a yellow ground extending into the interior, the countersunk base with a six-character Qianlong mark in aubergine (12.6cm diameter) Qty: (1) Provenance: By descent- Private Scottish collection, Harrietfield, Kelso; previously from the family estate bought in 1847, Newton Don, Kelso. Newton Don lies in the lowland hills near Kelso, overlooking the Eden Water, a tributary of the Tweed. It owes its name to the Don family who first acquired the former manorial lands of Newton around 1648. Sir Alexander Don inherited the estate and baronetcy in 1776 and over the next forty years the family brought about significant change. The Dons sought to expand the pleasure grounds and to create a secluded, fashionable, country seat and by 1800, a visitor described the estate as a ‘remarkably pretty, cheerful place’. Between 1817 and 1820 renowned English architect Sir Robert Smirke (1781-1867) made considerable alterations to the eighteenth-century house, for which Robert Adam had prepared the original plans. Unfortunately, the transformation had strained the family coffers to such an extent that the estate was sold in 1847. Harrietfield was the farmhouse of the Newton Don estate home farm. It may have been built after the marriage of Lady Harriet Cunningham to Alexander Don in 1778, hence the name. Note: Compare to similar examples with the same design from the Qing dynasty but different periods, including a Kangxi prototype illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, col. pl. 197; one with Yongzheng mark and period, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 12 October 2021, lot 47; one Jiaqing mark and period, sold at Sotheby's New York, 11 September 2012, lot 31.