.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The design on this dish is typically described as 'lotus bouquet' as the majority of the flowers, pod and leaves belong to the auspicious lotus plant. However, the bouquet also includes additional auspicious plants, such as the arrow-shaped sagittaria sagittifolia, a symbol both of generosity and of food in a time of shortage, and a stalk of millet, symbolising an abundance of grain. The 'lotus bouquet' motif was very popular in the early fifteenth century, and was also admired in the Qing dynasty, when copies of these dishes were made for the Qing emperors.
Compare two Qianlong-marked dishes of this pattern; one illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, p. 133, no. 763; the other included in the exhibition, Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 9 June - 2 August 1992, p. 275, no. 142. Compare, also, a pair of Yongzheng-marked dishes, also of the same pattern, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 31 October 2000, lot 889.
Compare two Qianlong-marked dishes of this pattern; one illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, p. 133, no. 763; the other included in the exhibition, Splendour of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 9 June - 2 August 1992, p. 275, no. 142. Compare, also, a pair of Yongzheng-marked dishes, also of the same pattern, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 31 October 2000, lot 889.