THE PROPERTY OF A FAR EASTERN COLLECTOR
A FINE EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE BOWL, LIANZI WAN

Details
A FINE EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE BOWL, LIANZI WAN
YONGLE PERIOD (1403-1425)

The deep sides rising from a point at the centre of the base, the exterior finely painted in rich blue tones with a band of elongated lotus petals below a keyfret border at the rim, the interior with a central spray of fruiting loquat within double circles, below a leafy scroll alternating with camellias and chrysanthemum flowerheads, and a band of breaking waves at the rim, the cobalt-blue with attractive 'heaping and piling'
8 3/8 in. (21.4 cm.) diam., box

Provenance
Major L.F. Hay, sold at Sotheby's London, 16 June 1939, lot 93
Mr. and Mrs. R.H.R. Palmer, no. 525, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 17 January 1989, lot 565
The Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 5 November 1997, lot 891

Exhibited
Somerville College, Oxford, 1944, no. 105
Chang Foundation, Taipei, Chinese Art from the Ching Wan Society Collections, 1998, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 16
David Lin & Co., Yuan and Ming Blue and White Porcelain, Taipei, 2000, pl. 7

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Carrie Li
Carrie Li

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Lot Essay

A closely related example in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, 1987, col. pl. 44. Cf. another in the Freer Gallery, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, 1981, vol. 9, pl. 93. The Percival David Foundation also has a comparable bowl, Catalogue, Section 3, no. B637; Feng Xianming illustrates a similar bowl in the Beijing Palace Museum, 'Yongle and Xuande Blue-and-White Porcelain in the Palace Museum', Orientations, November 1987, p. 62, fig. 13, which compares interestingly with another lianzi bowl that was clearly exported at an early date to the Middle East, illustrated by John A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, 1956, pl. 47, 29.326. Compare also to the bowl from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, 1994, vol. 2, 1995, fig. 670.

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