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Lot Essay
This is a very rare example of a small group of Wanli blue and white or wucai lobed basins vividly decorated with Daoist figural scenes. Two other examples of the same scene are known, and both are decorated in the wucai palette. The first, stylistically very similar to the present example, is in the Eisei Bunko Foundation Tokyo and was illustrated in Tokai Seij Zenshu, Shogakukan Series, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 14, p. 103, pl. 105. The second wucai example was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 September 1992, lot 483.
Two other Wanli blue and white lobed basins depicting figural scenes are known and both differ from the present example in their octagonal rather than pentafoil form. An example in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 204-205, no. 189. The other example from the Sui Lin An and Meiyintang collections was most recently sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 72. A wucai example depicting the same scene as the Meiyingtang example from the Ataka Collection is in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka illustrated in Masterpieces of Old Chinese Ceramics from the Ataka Collection, Osaka, 1972, col. pl. 72. Another wucai octagonal basin with a different figural scene depicting Wang Xizhi was excavated in Beijing and is illustrated, op. cit., Tokyo, 1976, col. pl. 204.
The scene depicted on the current basin is likely to be that of Laozi giving a farewell discourse before leaving his kingdom for the West.
Two other Wanli blue and white lobed basins depicting figural scenes are known and both differ from the present example in their octagonal rather than pentafoil form. An example in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 204-205, no. 189. The other example from the Sui Lin An and Meiyintang collections was most recently sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 72. A wucai example depicting the same scene as the Meiyingtang example from the Ataka Collection is in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka illustrated in Masterpieces of Old Chinese Ceramics from the Ataka Collection, Osaka, 1972, col. pl. 72. Another wucai octagonal basin with a different figural scene depicting Wang Xizhi was excavated in Beijing and is illustrated, op. cit., Tokyo, 1976, col. pl. 204.
The scene depicted on the current basin is likely to be that of Laozi giving a farewell discourse before leaving his kingdom for the West.