Lot Essay
No example with this particular arrangement of the decorative motifs is recorded, although several closely related examples have been published
Two other examples with peony scroll around the exterior and chrysanthemum around the interior exist. One from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Underglaze Red Ware of the Ming Dynasty, pl.4, differs only in swapping the rim borders so that the wave band occurs around the exterior and the lingzhi band around the interior. The other from the British Rail Pension Fund has classic scroll around the exterior and lingzhi around the interior rims
A third bowl of this group from the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, p.37, pl.51, is painted with chrysanthemum around the exterior below a wave border and peony around the interior below lingzhi. Another from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol.11, col.pl.78 and by Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceamics, col.pl.20, is also painted with chrysanthemum around the exterior below lingzhi and peony around the interior, but below a classic scroll border. A further example illustrated in Chinese Ceramics from the Idemitsu Collection, col.pl.149, also has a chrysanthemum meander around the exterior below a wave border
Compare also the bowl from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in ibid., col.pl.3, with a lotus meander around the exterior below a wave border and a chrsanthemum spray in the medallion below a peony meander and classic scroll around the rim
A related underglaze-red bowl of this large size painted in reserve now in the Chang Foundation, Taipei, was sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 150
Together these indicate a standardisation of decorative vocabulary by the early Ming period whereby a limited number of motifs available from pattern books were distributed in an apparently random way. This group uses chrysanthemum, peony and lotus meander either on the exterior or interior around a medallion issuing a floral stem from one side and lingzhi, wave and classic scroll borders in various combinations and positions around the rim. All however consistently employ the same band of petal panels enclosing a pencilled flower around the base above key-pattern around the foot
Two other examples with peony scroll around the exterior and chrysanthemum around the interior exist. One from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Underglaze Red Ware of the Ming Dynasty, pl.4, differs only in swapping the rim borders so that the wave band occurs around the exterior and the lingzhi band around the interior. The other from the British Rail Pension Fund has classic scroll around the exterior and lingzhi around the interior rims
A third bowl of this group from the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, p.37, pl.51, is painted with chrysanthemum around the exterior below a wave border and peony around the interior below lingzhi. Another from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, vol.11, col.pl.78 and by Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceamics, col.pl.20, is also painted with chrysanthemum around the exterior below lingzhi and peony around the interior, but below a classic scroll border. A further example illustrated in Chinese Ceramics from the Idemitsu Collection, col.pl.149, also has a chrysanthemum meander around the exterior below a wave border
Compare also the bowl from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in ibid., col.pl.3, with a lotus meander around the exterior below a wave border and a chrsanthemum spray in the medallion below a peony meander and classic scroll around the rim
A related underglaze-red bowl of this large size painted in reserve now in the Chang Foundation, Taipei, was sold in our London Rooms, 6 June 1988, lot 150
Together these indicate a standardisation of decorative vocabulary by the early Ming period whereby a limited number of motifs available from pattern books were distributed in an apparently random way. This group uses chrysanthemum, peony and lotus meander either on the exterior or interior around a medallion issuing a floral stem from one side and lingzhi, wave and classic scroll borders in various combinations and positions around the rim. All however consistently employ the same band of petal panels enclosing a pencilled flower around the base above key-pattern around the foot