WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)

Although this particular bowl is decorated in the style of its Chenghua predecessors, palace bowls with a scrolling morningglory design are especially rare, with the majority of bowls decorated with scrolls of lilies, mallow, gardenia, hibiscus, and so on. Morningglory is less commonly featured in Ming period bowls, particularly on its own rather than in combination other flowers. However, scrolling morning glory is found in Xuande-period faceted vases, which came to inspire Kangxi and Yongzheng-period versions. For a Xuande period vase, see Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum Series, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, vol. 34, 2001, p. 99, pl. 93.

Several Wanli-marked palace bowls have been sold, including one decorated with hibiscus from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19 January 1981, lot 424. A further Wanli-period hibiscus-decorated bowl can be found in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Special Exhibition of Chenghua Porcelain, 1976, Catalogue, no. 79.