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Lot Essay
This dish is often referred to as a 'bouquet' dish and belongs to an important group of early Ming blue and white wares together with 'grape' dishes, 'melon' dishes and 'dragon' dishes. See J. A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, 1981, p.92, where he discusses the thirty-four 'bouquet' dishes of varying sizes and with varying borders in the Ardebil Collection, showing the wide range of intensity of the cobalt within the dishes and the diversity of decoration, albeit based on a master pattern. The classic-scroll band at the rim of the present dish appears to be more unusual than the more commonly found wave-pattern rim.
A smaller dish of the same design from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated, Underglaze Blue and Red, 1987, no.135; another from the National Palace Museum, Taibei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, part 2, colour pl.38, included in the Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, Catalogue nos. 39 and 41; a third is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, vol.II, no.10; another in the Ardebil Shrine is illustrated by Pope, ibid., pl.31, fig.29.21; yet another from the T.Y. Chao Collection was included in the Hong Kong Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition, 1975, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, Catalogue no.8; and a further example from the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection is illustrated in the Catalogue, pt.I, colour pl.10. Compare also the dish sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 26 September 1989, lot 565, and another sold in these Rooms, 6 June 1994, lot 112.
A smaller dish of the same design from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated, Underglaze Blue and Red, 1987, no.135; another from the National Palace Museum, Taibei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, part 2, colour pl.38, included in the Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, Catalogue nos. 39 and 41; a third is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, vol.II, no.10; another in the Ardebil Shrine is illustrated by Pope, ibid., pl.31, fig.29.21; yet another from the T.Y. Chao Collection was included in the Hong Kong Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition, 1975, Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, Catalogue no.8; and a further example from the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection is illustrated in the Catalogue, pt.I, colour pl.10. Compare also the dish sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 26 September 1989, lot 565, and another sold in these Rooms, 6 June 1994, lot 112.