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Lot Essay
For comparable bowls excavated at Zhushan, see the Chang Foundation, Taibei, 1998 Exhibition, Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Catalogue no.16-1 where an example identical to the present lot is illustrated; for another group of this shape and design, but with the mark below the rim on the exterior, and the interior and base remaining unglazed, see ibid. no.16-2, and p.200, where the author suggests that bowls in this latter group with unglazed interiors were probably used as mortars rather than dice bowls. Compare also a further example of this shape and size, with interior identical to the present bowl, but the exterior having a mottled blue glaze with incised dragon design, ibid. no.15, also exhibited at the Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1989, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Catalogue no.94, together with the above-mentioned blue and white mortar as no.84.
A similar dice bowl is illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1980, no.148; another, in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in the Catalogue, Book II, part 2, no.31. For other examples, see Ming Porcelains in the Freer Gallery of Art, pl.9, also illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, 1982, vol.9, no.104; the Shanghai Museum example, in Underglaze Blue and Red, no.54; the Philadelphia Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, 1949, Catalogue no.58; the Venice, 1954, Exhibition of Chinese Art, Catalogue no.647, for the Harriman Collection example; the M.F.E.A., Stockholm, 1964, Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, Catalogue no.31, sold in London, 6 April 1976, lot 116; the Percival David Foundation, Catalogue, section 3, pl.XVIII, no.B 640; and the Matsuoka Collection, Catalogue no.64, 1975.
A similar dice bowl is illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1980, no.148; another, in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in the Catalogue, Book II, part 2, no.31. For other examples, see Ming Porcelains in the Freer Gallery of Art, pl.9, also illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha Series, 1982, vol.9, no.104; the Shanghai Museum example, in Underglaze Blue and Red, no.54; the Philadelphia Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, 1949, Catalogue no.58; the Venice, 1954, Exhibition of Chinese Art, Catalogue no.647, for the Harriman Collection example; the M.F.E.A., Stockholm, 1964, Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, Catalogue no.31, sold in London, 6 April 1976, lot 116; the Percival David Foundation, Catalogue, section 3, pl.XVIII, no.B 640; and the Matsuoka Collection, Catalogue no.64, 1975.