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A FINE AND EXTREMELY RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'FLORAL' BOWL MARK AND PERIOD OF XUANDE |
Estimate
4,000,000 - 6,000,000 HKD
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Description
- 19.5 cm, 7 5/8 in.
well potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot to flaring rim, the exterior decorated with a leafy composite floral scroll bearing various blooms of lotus, peony, pomegranate, camellia and chrysanthemum, between a key-fret border and an upright lappet band, the interior centred with a medallion enclosing a lotus bloom wreathed by scrolling foliage, surrounded by a further composite floral scroll around the cavetto, all within a frieze of florets borne on scrolling foliage, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle
Provenance
Collection of Mrs Alfred Clark (c.1890-1976).
Collection of Yeung Wing Tak.
Acquired from the above, 1983.
Collection of Yeung Wing Tak.
Acquired from the above, 1983.
Exhibited
Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Mrs Alfred Clark, Spink & Son, London, 1974, cat. no. 19.
Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 66.
Chinese Porcelain in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 21 (interior view incorrectly illustrated as cat. no. 22).
Blue and White Porcelain from the Tianminlou Collection, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1992, no. 37.
Tianminlou qinghua ci tezhan [Special exhibition of blue and white porcelain from the Tianminlou collection], Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1996.
Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 66.
Chinese Porcelain in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 21 (interior view incorrectly illustrated as cat. no. 22).
Blue and White Porcelain from the Tianminlou Collection, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1992, no. 37.
Tianminlou qinghua ci tezhan [Special exhibition of blue and white porcelain from the Tianminlou collection], Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1996.
Literature
Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Tianminlou Foundation, Shanghai, 1996, no. 39.
Condition
The bowl is in overall good condition with surface wear to the interior.
"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."
"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."
Catalogue Note
Vigorously painted in vibrant shades of blue, this elegantly shaped bowl carries the essence of Xuande period 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 his brush 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 stylized and lost the intensity of the blue.
The flowers depicted around this bowl each represent different times of the year and are synonymous with connotations of abundance and prosperity. Although flower scrolls as a decorative scheme on ceramics have been popular since the Song dynasty (960-1279), this particular combination of lotus, peony, pomegranate, camellia and chrysanthemum appears to have been an invention of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) potter. The compositional arrangement of the various flowers may have been borrowed from Middle Eastern textiles and metalwork. While the representation of different flowers is sometimes stylized, on the present piece they have been rendered in a fairly naturalistic way.
The design of these bowls was inspired by Hongwu and Yongle examples. Two Hongwu pieces, painted with a somewhat simpler flower scroll between key-fret borders, one in blue and white, excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, was included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 14; the other in underglaze red in the Palace Museum in Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 222. A larger bowl, excavated from the late Yongle stratum of the waste heaps of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, was included in the exhibition catalogue Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 44.
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, pl. 148.
Another bowl is in the Ardabil Shrine in Teheran, illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Smithsonian Institution, The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1956, pl. 47, no. 29.321 and another is in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, included in Suzanne G. Valenstein, Ming Porcelains. A Retrospective, New York, China House Gallery. China Institute in America, New York, 1970, cat. no. 6.
Two similar bowls were sold in our London rooms, one from the Eumorfopoulos collection on 29th May 1940, lot 209; the other from the collection of J.F.M. Braithwaite on 5th July 1977, lot 204 and again in these rooms on 30th April 1991, lot 12. Another from the collection of Kochukyo Co., Tokyo was also sold in these rooms on 8th October 2014, lot 3694.
Unmarked bowls of this type, painted with lotus on the outside, were also manufactured during the Xuande period, one example in the National Palace Museum in Taipei was included in the Museum’s exhibition Mingdai chunian ciqi tezhan mulu [Catalogue of the special exhibition of early Ming period porcelain], Taipei, 1982, cat. no. 27, and another is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, no. 668.
The flowers depicted around this bowl each represent different times of the year and are synonymous with connotations of abundance and prosperity. Although flower scrolls as a decorative scheme on ceramics have been popular since the Song dynasty (960-1279), this particular combination of lotus, peony, pomegranate, camellia and chrysanthemum appears to have been an invention of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) potter. The compositional arrangement of the various flowers may have been borrowed from Middle Eastern textiles and metalwork. While the representation of different flowers is sometimes stylized, on the present piece they have been rendered in a fairly naturalistic way.
The design of these bowls was inspired by Hongwu and Yongle examples. Two Hongwu pieces, painted with a somewhat simpler flower scroll between key-fret borders, one in blue and white, excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, was included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 14; the other in underglaze red in the Palace Museum in Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 222. A larger bowl, excavated from the late Yongle stratum of the waste heaps of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, was included in the exhibition catalogue Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 44.
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, pl. 148.
Another bowl is in the Ardabil Shrine in Teheran, illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Smithsonian Institution, The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1956, pl. 47, no. 29.321 and another is in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, included in Suzanne G. Valenstein, Ming Porcelains. A Retrospective, New York, China House Gallery. China Institute in America, New York, 1970, cat. no. 6.
Two similar bowls were sold in our London rooms, one from the Eumorfopoulos collection on 29th May 1940, lot 209; the other from the collection of J.F.M. Braithwaite on 5th July 1977, lot 204 and again in these rooms on 30th April 1991, lot 12. Another from the collection of Kochukyo Co., Tokyo was also sold in these rooms on 8th October 2014, lot 3694.
Unmarked bowls of this type, painted with lotus on the outside, were also manufactured during the Xuande period, one example in the National Palace Museum in Taipei was included in the Museum’s exhibition Mingdai chunian ciqi tezhan mulu [Catalogue of the special exhibition of early Ming period porcelain], Taipei, 1982, cat. no. 27, and another is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, no. 668.