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Lot Essay
These so-called lotus bouquet dishes are characteristic of the finest blue and white wares of the Yongle reign. Some examples have a classic scroll band around the inner rim and some, like the current dish, have a narrow wave band. An example of the former type was excavated from the Yongle Stratum of the Dongmentou, Zhushan Imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen in 1994.
The design on these dishes is enhanced by the fact that the decorators have chosen to paint the flowers, leaves and grasses in the bouquet in a naturalistic manner, but have rendered the ends of the stems in such a way as to mirror the effect of rippling water and complement the fluttering ends of the ribbon bow. When a similar dish in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City was illustrated by J. Carswell in Blue and White, Chicago, 1985, no. 21, the author noted that this dish exemplified the stylistic break with the fourteenth-century style by decorating with a more naturalistic feeling as seen in the asymmetrical arrangement of the central bouquet.
Dishes with this lotus bouquet design are in a number of important collections. An example with a wave band rim similar to the current dish is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei and is illustrated in Special Exhibition of Early Ming Porcelain, 1984, no. 39. Another from the collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco is illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, pl. 397. The Koger collection also has a dish with the same design, including the wave band around the rim, which is illustrated by J. Ayers in Chinese Ceramics, The Koger Collection, London, 1985, no. 49. Ayers notes that dishes of this design were among the porcelains that formed the famous gift made by Shah Abbas the Great of Persia to the Ardebil Shrine in 1611.
The design on these dishes is enhanced by the fact that the decorators have chosen to paint the flowers, leaves and grasses in the bouquet in a naturalistic manner, but have rendered the ends of the stems in such a way as to mirror the effect of rippling water and complement the fluttering ends of the ribbon bow. When a similar dish in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City was illustrated by J. Carswell in Blue and White, Chicago, 1985, no. 21, the author noted that this dish exemplified the stylistic break with the fourteenth-century style by decorating with a more naturalistic feeling as seen in the asymmetrical arrangement of the central bouquet.
Dishes with this lotus bouquet design are in a number of important collections. An example with a wave band rim similar to the current dish is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei and is illustrated in Special Exhibition of Early Ming Porcelain, 1984, no. 39. Another from the collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco is illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, pl. 397. The Koger collection also has a dish with the same design, including the wave band around the rim, which is illustrated by J. Ayers in Chinese Ceramics, The Koger Collection, London, 1985, no. 49. Ayers notes that dishes of this design were among the porcelains that formed the famous gift made by Shah Abbas the Great of Persia to the Ardebil Shrine in 1611.