A RARE COBALT-BLUE SAUCER DISH MARK AND PERIOD OF XUANDE

the shallow rounded sides elegantly rising from a slightly tapered foot to a gently flared rim, applied around the exterior with a deep cobalt-blue glaze thinning to white toward the rim, the white interior with a slightly recessed centre, incised with three clouds and further decorated in very faint anhua with two undulating dragons chasing 'flaming pearls' around the well, the white base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double ring

Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, The British Museum, London, 1994.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 657.

There is a stained firing crack of approx. 6 cm almost all covered with glaze inside the footring along the joint of the foot and the dish, with a short and much fainter associated body line which is only barely visible on the interior beneath the glaze. The base also has an original flaw to the double circles of the mark. Apart from a few tiny iron spots and some surface scratches, the overall condition of the dish is quite good. The actual colour of this is quite close to the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Although dishes with a high-fired cobalt-blue glaze are much less difficult to fire than those glazed in copper-red, they are nevertheless very rare in the Xuande period, when many experiments – mostly unsuccessful – were made with a blown-on low-fired cobalt-blue glaze known as ‘snow-flake’ blue.

A smaller blue-glazed dish from the waste heaps of the Jingdezhen kilns is illustrated in Jingdezhen chutu Mingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Ming imperial kilns excavated at Jingdezhen], Beijing, 2009, pl. 59 together with a slightly larger example with straight rim, pl. 60.

Two similar dishes with this ‘sacrificial blue’ glaze and an anhua cloud design inside are in the Shanghai Museum, both recorded and one of them illustrated in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi/Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections: A Series of Monographs. Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 3-46. A similar dish with anhua dragons on the inside and an incised Xuande reign mark, in the National Museum of China, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section], Mingdai [Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 48.

A smaller monochrome blue dish of Xuande mark and period has been sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2nd December 1993, lot 266; and one from the collection of E.T. Hall on 3rd November 1996, lot 719.