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Lot Essay
Cf. a very similar example of smaller size bearing a Xuande reign mark, formerly from the J.M. Hu Family and the Jingguantang Collection, sold in our New York Rooms, 14 March 1997, lot 71; and another dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1954, pl.16.
It is rare to find marked dishes from this period of such substantial size. Additionally, it is unusual to find composite floral-scroll decorating both the well and the exterior, as in the case of the present dish, since published examples of this type and date are invariably designed with lotus blossom as the central flowerhead, and have lotus-scroll in the well and chrysanthemum on the exterior.
Unmarked dishes of this date decorated with lotus and chrysanthemum are also known to exist, and a smaller dish from the Meiyintang Collection is illustrated by R. Krahl, Catalogue, vol.II, pl.662, p.50, where the author notes that the use or lack of mark "may either signify different destinations, the court or export, or different dates - Xuande or Yongle - or both".
A particularly interesting motif found on this dish is the conjoined trefoil band at the base of the exterior well, which is also found on an unmarked dish illustrated by Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, 1956, pl.34 (29.98), where the design in using different paired flowers around the well is comparable to the present dish. The conjoined trefoil motif is a variation of the classical half-palmette pattern imported via Central Asia and examples have been found on Yungang cave wall mouldings dated to the late 5th century. Mutations of this design probably transferred to Chinese ceramics, and could be seen on exported blue and white wares of the 14th and early 15th centuries. For a detailed discussion, see J. Rawson, Chinese Ornament, The Lotus and the Dragon, British Museum, 1990, passim.
It is rare to find marked dishes from this period of such substantial size. Additionally, it is unusual to find composite floral-scroll decorating both the well and the exterior, as in the case of the present dish, since published examples of this type and date are invariably designed with lotus blossom as the central flowerhead, and have lotus-scroll in the well and chrysanthemum on the exterior.
Unmarked dishes of this date decorated with lotus and chrysanthemum are also known to exist, and a smaller dish from the Meiyintang Collection is illustrated by R. Krahl, Catalogue, vol.II, pl.662, p.50, where the author notes that the use or lack of mark "may either signify different destinations, the court or export, or different dates - Xuande or Yongle - or both".
A particularly interesting motif found on this dish is the conjoined trefoil band at the base of the exterior well, which is also found on an unmarked dish illustrated by Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, 1956, pl.34 (29.98), where the design in using different paired flowers around the well is comparable to the present dish. The conjoined trefoil motif is a variation of the classical half-palmette pattern imported via Central Asia and examples have been found on Yungang cave wall mouldings dated to the late 5th century. Mutations of this design probably transferred to Chinese ceramics, and could be seen on exported blue and white wares of the 14th and early 15th centuries. For a detailed discussion, see J. Rawson, Chinese Ornament, The Lotus and the Dragon, British Museum, 1990, passim.