ENCIRCLED XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

This rare type of lianzi bowl differs significantly in its design from the Yongle prototype. Others in this small group include the example in the Freer Gallery, Washington, illustrated in the Catalogue of Ming Porcelain, 1935, pl.15; the bowl illustrated by A.W. Brankston, Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen, pl.13D and C; by S. Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, pl.28B; the National Palace Museum Collection, Taibei example included in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Catalogue, Taipei, 1998, pp.368-369, no.157; and the Muse Guimet, Paris, example, illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1978, pls. 36 and 36a, p.77. An identical bowl from the Collection of the late Mr. and Mrs. R.H.R. Palmer was sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 17 January 1989, lot 571.