A Shonzui style saucer dish

MING FOUR CHARACTER MARK, CHONGZHEN

Details

A Shonzui style saucer dish
Ming four character mark, Chongzhen
For the Japanese market, painted in underglaze blue, iron-red and green enamels, the small central medallion enclosing a crouched rabbit, surrounded by four roundels of flying cranes reserved on radiating panels with geometric patterns, below the brown-edged wavy upturned rim
18.1 cm. diam.

Sale room notice

Please note that this lot is wrongly illustrated as lot 27 on page 53 of the catalogue.

Lot Essay

It is suggested that, in view of the bold colouring, the dish may have originally formed part of the ceramics for daimyo-cha or 'pretty' tea (Kirei-sabi) for aristocratic ladies, where such bright pieces would be more acceptable than in Rikyu-style austere tea.
A similar example was sold at Christie's London, 12 June 1989, the Peony Pavilion Collection: Chinese Tea Ceramics For Japan (c.1580-1650), lot 318.

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