Lot Essay
There are a number of published examples of anhua-decorated Yongle stem-bowls, with or without marks. There appears to be no published examples of undecorated stem-bowls of the Yongle period, although undecorated tianbai or 'sweet white' wares do exist, as mentioned by Geng Baochang, Ming Qing Ciqi Jianding, Forbidden City Press, 1993, p. 36. Evidence from excavation at Jingdezhen indicates that stem-bowls without decorations were produced, cf. Imperial Porcelains of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 84, where a similar stem-bowl bearing an anhua Yongle mark is illustrated, p. 85, no. 1.