JIAJING SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1522-1566)

A fish bowl of this date and pattern was included in the exhibition, Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, no. 21; and another example of this pattern is illustrated in Ming dai taoci daquan, Taiwan, 1987, p. 317. Compare another example sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 2006, lot 252.

The large size of these dragon fish bowls made them particularly difficult to manufacture. See R. L. Hobson, The Wares of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1923, pp. 19 and 110, where it is mentioned that this type of ware required up to nine days firing and that the low rate of success often drove the imperial potters to despair.