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Lot Essay
Melons appear as one of the decorative elements on underglaze blue- decorated wares as early as the Yuan dynasty. They are regarded as auspicious symbols of abundant progeny because of their many seeds, and because guadie (literally melon and newly forming melon) is taken to mean 'spreading like melon-vines' and implying many offspring. In the Yuan period melons began to appear on underglaze-decorated porcelains, usually as part of a more complex design. They may be seen, for instance, in the central panel of several large dishes and on one of the upper facets of the famous hexagonal double-gourd vase in the collection of the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, see Sekai toji zenshu, vol.13, Tsugio Mikami (ed.), Tokyo, 1981, p. 275, fig. 201. A rare example of melons alone providing the main decorative motif on a Yuan dynasty pear-shaped vase is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol.13, op. cit., pl. 210.
A fruiting melon vine growing from a coherent ground plane appears to be an innovation of the Yongle reign, and a dish with the same decorative bands as the current example was excavated from a Yongle stratum at Dongmentou, Zhushan, Jingdezhen in 1994. The central design has the same number and arrangement of large and small melons, leaves and flowers as the current dish. Even the floral scroll in the cavetto has the same layout and order of flowers including lotus, camellia, rose, pomegranate, peony, so-called medicinal peony, and chrysanthemum. The exterior has the same sprays of auspicious fruits - pomegranate, grapes, lychees, peaches, ginkos and cherries. The excavated dish, which is slightly smaller than the current example, is illustrated in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, 156-7, no. 46.
A slightly smaller dish (D: 37.8 cm.) with the same decorative scheme as the current example is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing and is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 60, no. 57, where it is dated to the Yongle reign. The authors of this publication note that the dish was in the Qing court collection. The composition of the floral scroll around the cavetto is identical on the current dish and the one from the Palace. The wave bands around the flattened rims of the two vessels are similar, and the depiction of the two melons on the interior base is identical in composition, except that the current plate has a more twisted stem and is painted in a more open style. The decoration on both dishes is composed of individual fruiting sprays.
A fruiting melon vine growing from a coherent ground plane appears to be an innovation of the Yongle reign, and a dish with the same decorative bands as the current example was excavated from a Yongle stratum at Dongmentou, Zhushan, Jingdezhen in 1994. The central design has the same number and arrangement of large and small melons, leaves and flowers as the current dish. Even the floral scroll in the cavetto has the same layout and order of flowers including lotus, camellia, rose, pomegranate, peony, so-called medicinal peony, and chrysanthemum. The exterior has the same sprays of auspicious fruits - pomegranate, grapes, lychees, peaches, ginkos and cherries. The excavated dish, which is slightly smaller than the current example, is illustrated in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, 156-7, no. 46.
A slightly smaller dish (D: 37.8 cm.) with the same decorative scheme as the current example is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing and is published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 60, no. 57, where it is dated to the Yongle reign. The authors of this publication note that the dish was in the Qing court collection. The composition of the floral scroll around the cavetto is identical on the current dish and the one from the Palace. The wave bands around the flattened rims of the two vessels are similar, and the depiction of the two melons on the interior base is identical in composition, except that the current plate has a more twisted stem and is painted in a more open style. The decoration on both dishes is composed of individual fruiting sprays.