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Lot Essay
The style of decoration on the exterior of this unusual warming bowl is very similar to that found on 'palace bowls' of the Chenghua period, such as the example decorated with mallow blossoms in the Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, illustrated by D. Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1978, p. 100, pl. 66. The author refers to the decoration on these bowls as 'garlands of flowers - lilies, hibiscus, mallow, gardenias - in a style hitherto unknown'. The style of painting is not as bold as earlier blue and white wares, nor does it show signs of 'heaping and piling', but rather is soft in tone and incorporates shaded washes. She goes on to say that the leaves accompanying these flowers did not always correspond to the flower represented, which sometimes makes it difficult to indentify the flower.
A Chenghua 'palace bowl' in the Percival David Foundation has a very similar day lily scroll on the exterior to that seen on the Falk hot water bowl. Indeed, comparison of the Falk bowl with the illustration of the David Foundation 'palace bowl' published by R. Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration - Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, Singapore, 1992, p. 52, no. 51, shows that the shape, placing and orientation of flowers and leaves on the two bowls are precisely the same. Day lilies were a popular motif in Chinese art, since they are supposed to banish grief, while a pregnant women who wore day lilies would be expected to bear a male child.
There are two hot water or warming bowls in the Percival David Foundation; see Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains, Percival David Foundation, London, 1976, nos. 696 and A623, dated to the late 15th century and circa 1500, respectively. While the David Foundation bowls have attractive and lively decoration, neither is of the fine quality of the Falk bowl. A hot water bowl with sketchy painted decoration similar to that of the David Foundation example and not of quite such high quality as the Falk bowl is in the Victoria and Albert Museum; see R. Kerr (ed.) Chinese Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1991, p. 23, where it is dated to the period 1475-1500.
Lion-Goldschmidt also illustrates, op. cit., p. 101, pls. 67 and 67a, a hot water bowl of the same shape, but decorated with figural scenes, from the Asian Art Museum, San Francsico, which she dates as probably Chenghua.
A Chenghua 'palace bowl' in the Percival David Foundation has a very similar day lily scroll on the exterior to that seen on the Falk hot water bowl. Indeed, comparison of the Falk bowl with the illustration of the David Foundation 'palace bowl' published by R. Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration - Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, Singapore, 1992, p. 52, no. 51, shows that the shape, placing and orientation of flowers and leaves on the two bowls are precisely the same. Day lilies were a popular motif in Chinese art, since they are supposed to banish grief, while a pregnant women who wore day lilies would be expected to bear a male child.
There are two hot water or warming bowls in the Percival David Foundation; see Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains, Percival David Foundation, London, 1976, nos. 696 and A623, dated to the late 15th century and circa 1500, respectively. While the David Foundation bowls have attractive and lively decoration, neither is of the fine quality of the Falk bowl. A hot water bowl with sketchy painted decoration similar to that of the David Foundation example and not of quite such high quality as the Falk bowl is in the Victoria and Albert Museum; see R. Kerr (ed.) Chinese Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1991, p. 23, where it is dated to the period 1475-1500.
Lion-Goldschmidt also illustrates, op. cit., p. 101, pls. 67 and 67a, a hot water bowl of the same shape, but decorated with figural scenes, from the Asian Art Museum, San Francsico, which she dates as probably Chenghua.