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Lot Essay
The porcelains of the Xuande period have always been especially admired by Chinese connoisseurs, to the extent that three hundred years later, when the Qianlong Emperor wished to compliment contemporary porcelains, he compared them to the porcelains of the Xuande and Chenghua (1465-1487) reigns. The Xuande Emperor was a very enthusiastic patron of porcelain production, and the potters working at the imperial kilns were required to make an astonishingly wide range of vessel shapes. Amongst the varied bowl forms of the period, the graceful conical shape of this finely potted bowl is one of the most elegant.
Similar examples from important public and private collections have been published, including one in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 159, no. 151; two in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hsuan-te Period Porcelain, Taipei, 1980, pl. 36, the other in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 178-179, pl. 62. One from the Percival David Foundation, now housed at the British Museum, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 88 and one in the Freer Gallery of Art (now part of the National Museum of Asian Art), Washington, D.C., is included in ibid., vol. 9, pl. 102. Others include one in the Shanghai Museum of Art, illustrated by Lu Minghua in Mingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2007, fig. 3-34; one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, fig. 403; and one published in the Asia Society Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1982, pl. 73.
Bowls with this pattern sold recently at auction include one in the sale Imperial Connoisseurship Treasures of Chinese Art from A Prestigious Collection; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 21 November 2025, lot 803, and another sold at Christie’s Paris, 11 December 2024, lot 53. A very similar bowl from The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art was sold at The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 20.
Similar examples from important public and private collections have been published, including one in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 159, no. 151; two in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hsuan-te Period Porcelain, Taipei, 1980, pl. 36, the other in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 178-179, pl. 62. One from the Percival David Foundation, now housed at the British Museum, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 88 and one in the Freer Gallery of Art (now part of the National Museum of Asian Art), Washington, D.C., is included in ibid., vol. 9, pl. 102. Others include one in the Shanghai Museum of Art, illustrated by Lu Minghua in Mingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2007, fig. 3-34; one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, fig. 403; and one published in the Asia Society Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1982, pl. 73.
Bowls with this pattern sold recently at auction include one in the sale Imperial Connoisseurship Treasures of Chinese Art from A Prestigious Collection; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 21 November 2025, lot 803, and another sold at Christie’s Paris, 11 December 2024, lot 53. A very similar bowl from The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art was sold at The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 20.