.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The presence of a qilin in the centre of a Yuan period dish is very rare. It appears that the only other published example is the celebrated dish from the Topkapi Saray Museum where the mythical beast is depicted galloping in profile among plants and rockwork but without a lingzhi sprig. See Ayers and Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, vol. II, London, 1986, col. pl. 563; Margaret Medley in Yüan Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1974, fig. 33A; and Toji Taikei, vol. 41, Tokyo, 1974, p. 92, fig. 21.
The Topkapi dish is painted with a lotus meander around the well unlike the present example which has a chrysanthemum scroll. The latter is much less common than lotus or peony scrolls. Examples of dishes with chrysanthemum scrolls surrounding a medallion of various plant motifs are illustrated by Medley, op.cit., fig. 35B and Toji Taikei, vol. 41, op. cit., fig. 51.
It is interesting to compare the depiction of a horse on a Yuan vase from the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Toji Taikei, vol. 41, op. cit. fig. 37, where the artist has also turned the animal's head at right angles to the body to look out of the picture rather than in profile, since the latter would have been much less challenging.
The Topkapi dish is painted with a lotus meander around the well unlike the present example which has a chrysanthemum scroll. The latter is much less common than lotus or peony scrolls. Examples of dishes with chrysanthemum scrolls surrounding a medallion of various plant motifs are illustrated by Medley, op.cit., fig. 35B and Toji Taikei, vol. 41, op. cit., fig. 51.
It is interesting to compare the depiction of a horse on a Yuan vase from the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Toji Taikei, vol. 41, op. cit. fig. 37, where the artist has also turned the animal's head at right angles to the body to look out of the picture rather than in profile, since the latter would have been much less challenging.