A blue and white 'floral' bowl, Mark and period of Xuande | 明宣德 青花纏枝花卉紋盌 《大明宣德年製》款

The property designation of this lot should read Property of a lady, sold to Benefit Blue Cross, UK. 請注意此拍品為私人收藏，收益將惠捐英國Blue Cross。

Finely painted in vibrant shades of blue, this elegantly shaped bowl carries the essence of Xuande period (1426-35) aesthetics. Bold, yet finely detailed, the remarkable decoration splendidly contrasts with the perfect, lustrous glaze. Using the xieyi (sketching thoughts) style of painting, the artist let the brush to freely run over the bowl's surface; the naturalistic blooms seem to surge from their background, as if in relief. This exceptional quality of painting, characteristic of the best of the Xuande period, was later emulated, but never equalled. Post-Xuande depictions of similar flower scrolls became more stylised and lost the intensity of the blue.

Similar bowls, with a lotus design, are portrayed on the Guwan tu (Scroll of antiquities) made during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723-35) and dated equivalent to 1728. The scroll, depicting various artworks in the imperial collection, is now in the Percival David Foundation in London. Two bowls identical to the present piece are in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and in the Palace Museum in Beijing, one included in the exhibition catalogue Mingdai Xuande guanyao jingcui tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 135, together with a slightly smaller bowl painted with lotus scrolls on the exterior, cat. no. 134; the other, somewhat smaller, illustrated in Geng Baochang, Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu Qinghua ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace Museum],  Beijing, 2002, vol. 2, pl. 149, together with an example with lotus scroll, ibid, pl.148. See also a closely related bowl from the Tianminlou collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd April 2019, lot 6.