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Lot Essay
Previously sold in Hong Kong, 30 April 1996, lot 330.
The decoration on the present lot displays an unusual combination of otherwise characteristic early Ming motifs. The scrolling lotus is one of the most popular motifs on blue and white wares of this period, while the design of fruiting sprays is often found as the main decoration on dishes and meiping vases of the earlier Yongle period.
The present bowl appears to be unique, as there does not seem to be an exact published comparison for it, although there are other closely related bowls painted with variations of this design. A large bowl, dated to the 15th century, painted with a lotus scroll on the exterior and detached sprays of fruits and flowers on the interior, was included in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, 1949, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 33; and another 15th-century deep bowl, illustrated ibid., has a similar design of a peony meander contrasted on the interior with fruit and flower branches. Cf. also a shallow bowl with fruiting and flowering sprays scattered throughout on the interior and exterior, in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, and illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, 1998, no. 62; while a large dice bowl with a peony scroll on the exterior and floral and fruiting sprays on the interior is illustrated ibid., no. 38.
The decoration on the present lot displays an unusual combination of otherwise characteristic early Ming motifs. The scrolling lotus is one of the most popular motifs on blue and white wares of this period, while the design of fruiting sprays is often found as the main decoration on dishes and meiping vases of the earlier Yongle period.
The present bowl appears to be unique, as there does not seem to be an exact published comparison for it, although there are other closely related bowls painted with variations of this design. A large bowl, dated to the 15th century, painted with a lotus scroll on the exterior and detached sprays of fruits and flowers on the interior, was included in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, 1949, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 33; and another 15th-century deep bowl, illustrated ibid., has a similar design of a peony meander contrasted on the interior with fruit and flower branches. Cf. also a shallow bowl with fruiting and flowering sprays scattered throughout on the interior and exterior, in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, and illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, 1998, no. 62; while a large dice bowl with a peony scroll on the exterior and floral and fruiting sprays on the interior is illustrated ibid., no. 38.