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Lot Essay
The design on this dish is typically described as 'lotus bouquet' as the majority of the flowers, pods and leaves belong to the auspicious lotus plant. However, the bouquet also includes additional auspicious plants, such as the arrow-shaped sagittaria sagittifolia, a symbol both of generosity and of food in a time of shortage, and a stalk of millet, symbolising an abundance of grain.
Lotus bouquet dishes of this small size are relatively rare. J. A. Pope records two examples in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 30, nos. 29.16-17, and another dish of this size is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II, London, 1994, pl. 665. A number of dishes of this size have also been sold at auction, including one from the collection of His Excellency Henri Beduwe, Belgian Ambassador to the Lebanon, sold at Sotheby's London, 15 April 1980, lot 235; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 September 1992, lot 470.
Lotus bouquet dishes of this small size are relatively rare. J. A. Pope records two examples in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 30, nos. 29.16-17, and another dish of this size is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II, London, 1994, pl. 665. A number of dishes of this size have also been sold at auction, including one from the collection of His Excellency Henri Beduwe, Belgian Ambassador to the Lebanon, sold at Sotheby's London, 15 April 1980, lot 235; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 September 1992, lot 470.