XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-1435)

Bowls of this form—with gently rounded sides and a slightly tapered foot ring featuring a subtle bulge on the interior—are known as jixinwan, or “chicken-heart bowls.” They are also sometimes referred to as ‘lotus-seed bowls’ (lianzi) due to their resemblance to a lotus seed pod. This type is produced in three standard sizes, the largest measuring approximately 20 cm. in diameter, such as the current bowl. An example of the smaller version, measuring 10 cm., decorated similarly on the exterior but with Islamic-style scroll on the interior, is in the National Palace Museum collection and illustrated in Radiating Hues of Blue and White: Ming Dynasty Blue-and-White Porcelains in the National Palace Museum Collection, pp. 100–01, no. 38. The author notes that the smaller bowls were used as tea vessels. Another example of a small bowl with similar decoration to the present piece is illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 164–65, no. 155. See, also, a bowl from the Cole Collection sold at Sotheby’s London, 8 July 1974, lot 191, and again at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 November 1982, lot 101.

A variation of the design of the present bowl with two tiers of petals encircling the exterior is illustrated in the Idemitsu Museum of Art 15th Anniversary Catalogue, 1981, no. 792, and additional examples were included in the Philadelphia Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, Philadelphia, 1949, nos. 55 and 56. Bowls of this design are also found in tianbai (sweet white) glaze; for such an example, see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 160–65, no. 153.