A fine yellow-glazed dish, Mark and period of Jiajing | 明嘉靖 黃釉盤 《大明嘉靖年製》款

Property of a Gentleman.

Sotheby's London, 8th July 1974, lot 242 (one of a pair). 

Collection of T.Y. Chao (1912-1999).

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1987, lot 247. 

J.J. Lally & Co., New York.

紳士收藏

倫敦蘇富比1974年7月8日，編號242 (一對之一)

趙從衍（1912-1999）收藏

香港蘇富比1987年5月19日，編號247

藍理捷，紐約

This dish is striking for the luminous tone of its rich yellow glaze, a color reserved exclusively for the imperial court. Deceptively simple, monochrome porcelains required extreme precision in the potting, glazing and firing, and light-colored glazes such as the present depended on the highest level of purity of the clay. This 'imperial yellow' glaze was produced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen throughout the Ming dynasty, and was achieved by adding ferric oxide to the lead silicate base.

As one of the five colors derived from the Five Elements (wuxing), yellow became the symbol of the emperor. It was thought that the emperor was located in the center of the five directions and the center was represented by the earth element associated with the color yellow.  

The pair to this dish was exhibited in the Exhibition of Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of The T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1978, cat. no. 43, and subsequently sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 66. Compare also two Jiajing mark and period dishes of this type, from the Sir Percival David Collection and now in the British Museum, London, published in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Ch'ing Monochrome, London, 1973, pls 537 and A580; and a dish from the collection of Roger Pilkington sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 35.