A RARE BLUE AND WHITE BARBED 'LOTUS POND' CHARGER YUAN DYNASTY |

sturdily potted with shallow rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to a wide everted bracket-lobed rim, the interior centred with a medallion densely decorated with clumps of flowering lotus rising from the rippling waters of a pond, the plants rendered bearing large pads and curling leaves, the cavetto decorated in reserve against a blue ground with a composite floral meander, all within a band of crashing waves bordering the rim, the exterior decorated with a frieze enclosing a lotus scroll, the unglazed base inscribed with an indistinct character

Collection Sir John Home, Bt., acquired in Cairo, by repute.
Collection of Sir David Home, Bt.
Sotheby’s London, 15th December 1987, lot 139.

Exhibition of Chinese Art, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1944.
Exhibition of Chinese Art, Glasgow Art Gallery, Kelvingrove, 1944.
Ming Blue-and-White Porcelain, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1946, cat. no. 13.
Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 14th to 19th Centuries, Oriental Ceramic Society at The Arts Council Gallery, London, 1953-1954, cat. no. 25.
City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 1975-1987, on loan.

The dish is in overall good condition with a minute shallow flake (0.2cm) to the rim and some minor glaze gaps to the centre of the dish and the cavetto, as can be seen in the 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."

Blue and white chargers of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) are among the most impressive and characteristic porcelains of that innovative period. No two dishes are identical as the craftsmen conceived each dish individually. Their onerous production process and generous use of the expensive imported cobalt pigment severely limited the number that could be produced, resulting in the potters switching to a simpler version of circular form and designs in blue on a white ground, which were better suited to serial production. Porcelains of this type were exported all over Asia and highly sought after for their durability and suitability for Middle Eastern banquets. Their massive and powerful potting, and thick, crisply moulded bracket-lobed rim, has been dramatically emphasised by outlining the barbed edge in cobalt blue. Furthermore, the exoticism of their quickly sketched central nature scenes, which are unmistakeably Chinese, evoking lush Southern gardens with fantastic rocks, bamboos, lotus, peonies and other plants, would have appealed to wealthy Middle Eastern merchants keen to dazzle their audience back home. Such porcelains represent the vanguard of an overarching change of taste in tableware that embraced all of Asia, although it was to take some time before China’s elite fully embraced Jingdezhen’s blue and white colour scheme itself.

A close comparison to the present piece in the Ardabil Shrine is illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington D.C., 1956, pl. 22, no. 29.123, decorated with a very similar lotus pond enclosed by a blue border, but painted with a peony scroll and with blackberry lily around the barbed rim, together with a second dish, no. 29.129, depicting a lotus pool surrounded by a moulded blue-ground peony border. According to Pope, blue-ground borders are more often found on dishes decorated entirely in white on blue, rather than enclosing a central design in blue on a white ground, and always with a barbed rim (p. 67). Compare also a charger painted with two mandarin ducks in a lotus pond, surrounded by similar borders to the present piece, from the collection of Prof. John Carswell, sold in our London rooms, 15th December 1981, lot 195, and again at Christie’s New York, 19th/20th September 2013, lot 1288.

Bracket-lobed dishes decorated with a central lotus pond but bordered with a blue lotus scroll on a white ground include one, with a trellis-diaper painted rim, sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1987, lot 209; and another, adorned with a classic-scroll rim, sold at Christie’s London, 16th June 1986, lot 148.

This charger once belonged to Sir John Home (1872-1938), the 12th Baronet. Born in Edinburgh, he rose to become Director of the National Bank of Egypt, Cairo, in 1925. He acquired much of his collection in Egypt and donated some of these pieces to the British Museum, London, in the 1920s. His heir, Sir David Home Bt. (1904-1992) became a member of the Oriental Ceramic Society in 1942.