A VERY RARE LATE MING BLUE AND WHITE CINQUEFOIL BASIN

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 

Details

A VERY RARE LATE MING BLUE AND WHITE CINQUEFOIL BASIN
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)

Strongly potted and well painted in inky blue tones with a pair of ascending and descending dragons in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl' amidst cloud scrolls within the central medallion, the motif repeated with striding dragons on the five lobed sides and on the flattened everted rim, the exterior decorated with a continuous lotus meander below a border of precious objects around the underside of the rim, the reign mark within a recessed medallion in the centre of the unglazed base (rim chip and hairline restored)
13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

The present basin with five lobes is very rare, and the closest comparison to it, in terms of its painted decoration is a larger hexafoil basin (37.5 cm. wide) with a very similar composition from the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taiwan, 1990, pl. 104. There are also other cinquefoil basins painted with single dragons, such as the example in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, illustrated in The 15th Anniversary Catalogue, Tokyo, 1981, p. 203, no. 852; and another sold in our New York Rooms, The Jingguantang Collection Part III, 18 September 1997, lot 152. The lobing on these examples, however, is not as well defined as on the present lot.

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