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Lot Essay
This bowl belongs to a group of imperial wares that may be considered to be among the finest of all Xuande porcelains. The bowls and dishes in this group are decorated with extremely well-painted figures in landscape, often with pavilions. Judging from the examples that have been preserved in the palace collections, these were greatly favored by succeeding Chinese emperors.
A bowl of the same size and with identical decoration to that on the Falk bowl is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 350-1, no. 148, where the decoration is described as 'court ladies playing the vertical flute to attract phoenixes'. A second bowl with the same decoration as the Falk bowl is in the collection of the British Museum, London.
Another bowl in the National Palace Museum has decoration very similar to that on the Falk bowl, but with two figures riding on flying phoenixes, one riding on a male and the other on a female. This is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum - Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, part 2, Hong Kong, 1963, p. 127, pl. 48. A third related bowl, also in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, depicts Xiwangmu (the Queen Mother of the West) riding on a flying crane towards a pavilion, which we may assume is her Moon Palace.
There are other related bowls, without immortals riding on birds, in both the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and the Palace Museum, Beijing. Both Palace Museums also house dishes which are painted in the same exquisite style with the same theme of figures in landscapes with pavilions. However, the specific design on the Falk bowl was obviously one much admired by the Xuande emperor, since exactly the same design appears on a shallow dish with everted rim in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, which is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 143, no. 135.
A bowl of the same size and with identical decoration to that on the Falk bowl is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 350-1, no. 148, where the decoration is described as 'court ladies playing the vertical flute to attract phoenixes'. A second bowl with the same decoration as the Falk bowl is in the collection of the British Museum, London.
Another bowl in the National Palace Museum has decoration very similar to that on the Falk bowl, but with two figures riding on flying phoenixes, one riding on a male and the other on a female. This is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum - Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, part 2, Hong Kong, 1963, p. 127, pl. 48. A third related bowl, also in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, depicts Xiwangmu (the Queen Mother of the West) riding on a flying crane towards a pavilion, which we may assume is her Moon Palace.
There are other related bowls, without immortals riding on birds, in both the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and the Palace Museum, Beijing. Both Palace Museums also house dishes which are painted in the same exquisite style with the same theme of figures in landscapes with pavilions. However, the specific design on the Falk bowl was obviously one much admired by the Xuande emperor, since exactly the same design appears on a shallow dish with everted rim in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, which is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 143, no. 135.