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Lot Essay
The Arabic script may be translated as:
'For those things that are good, remove those that are evil' (Qur'an, sura XI, part of v. 114),
and 'For God loveth those who do good'.
The present lot belongs to a distinctive group of heavily potted blue and white wares bearing Zhengde reign marks and ornamented with Islamic inscriptions. They might have been used by the eunuchs at court or by the emperor who was fascinated with things Islamic.
Compare the present censer with a six-lobed inscribed tripod censer from the Eumorphopoulos Collection, illustrated by J. Carswell, Blue and White - Chinese Porcelain and its Impact on the Western World, The University of Chicago, 1985, no. 37; and with another in the British Museum, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 8:11, together with other scholar's vessels inscribed with Arabic script, pls. 8:3-10.
'For those things that are good, remove those that are evil' (Qur'an, sura XI, part of v. 114),
and 'For God loveth those who do good'.
The present lot belongs to a distinctive group of heavily potted blue and white wares bearing Zhengde reign marks and ornamented with Islamic inscriptions. They might have been used by the eunuchs at court or by the emperor who was fascinated with things Islamic.
Compare the present censer with a six-lobed inscribed tripod censer from the Eumorphopoulos Collection, illustrated by J. Carswell, Blue and White - Chinese Porcelain and its Impact on the Western World, The University of Chicago, 1985, no. 37; and with another in the British Museum, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 8:11, together with other scholar's vessels inscribed with Arabic script, pls. 8:3-10.