.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The inscription in the central roundel reads 'Allah be praised for all His blessings' within 'the truely thankful never sin against the Lord even when affluent' and the hadith on the reverse 'The Messenger of God (may His peace be upon him) said:
The body achieves repose by eating little
The tongue achieves repose by detachment from care
The soul achieves repose by sinning less'
This appears to be the only dish of this type with a hadith (saying of the prophet) inscribed in Arabic on the reverse.
Two other dishes of this very rare group are known with different Arabic inscriptions on the front, but with phrases written in Persian rather than Arabic on the reverse. Like the present dish these two are also painted entirely in iron-red, with the same arrangement of the inscriptions and with phonetic Zhengde reign marks in Arabic. One of these dishes in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is of the same size and illustrated in Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1966, vol. II, pl. 7. This dish is also discussed by S. Jenyns, in 'A Visit to the Pei-kou, Taiwan', T.O.C.S., 1957-59, vol. 31, p. 57, where the author mentions seeing another similar dish in the collection (perhaps with a different inscription), and goes on to mention a similarly decorated stemcup in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The other dish of slightly smaller size, in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu, Japan, 1981, vol. 21, pl. 14.
The body achieves repose by eating little
The tongue achieves repose by detachment from care
The soul achieves repose by sinning less'
This appears to be the only dish of this type with a hadith (saying of the prophet) inscribed in Arabic on the reverse.
Two other dishes of this very rare group are known with different Arabic inscriptions on the front, but with phrases written in Persian rather than Arabic on the reverse. Like the present dish these two are also painted entirely in iron-red, with the same arrangement of the inscriptions and with phonetic Zhengde reign marks in Arabic. One of these dishes in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is of the same size and illustrated in Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1966, vol. II, pl. 7. This dish is also discussed by S. Jenyns, in 'A Visit to the Pei-kou, Taiwan', T.O.C.S., 1957-59, vol. 31, p. 57, where the author mentions seeing another similar dish in the collection (perhaps with a different inscription), and goes on to mention a similarly decorated stemcup in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The other dish of slightly smaller size, in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Chugoku toji zenshu, Japan, 1981, vol. 21, pl. 14.