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Lot Essay
The current dish is exceedingly rare and is possibly unique as no other similar example appears to have been published to date. Yellow-ground blue and white wares first appeared in the early Ming period and were produced in larger quantities during the Chenghua period. However, the decorative repertoire on these ceramics are limited to mainly floral or stylised formal motifs, such as a dish decorated with a peony spray excavated from the Xuande stratum in Zhushan, illustrated in Xuande Imperial Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, no. 85-3.
During the Jiajing period new designs were incorporated into imperial blue and white on yellow ground wares, such as a group of large dishes, all measuring around 80 cm. in diameter, decorated with a frontal dragon amongst scrolling lotus. One such example is in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 259, no. 234; another is in the Percival David Collection, now housed in the British Museum, illustrated by Margaret Medley in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1978, no. 61; and one donated by J.M. Hu to the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, no. 23. However the current dish appears to be the only published example decorated with a single phoenix as well as of this small size, making it exceptionally unusual and appealing.
During the Jiajing period new designs were incorporated into imperial blue and white on yellow ground wares, such as a group of large dishes, all measuring around 80 cm. in diameter, decorated with a frontal dragon amongst scrolling lotus. One such example is in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 259, no. 234; another is in the Percival David Collection, now housed in the British Museum, illustrated by Margaret Medley in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1978, no. 61; and one donated by J.M. Hu to the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. J.M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, no. 23. However the current dish appears to be the only published example decorated with a single phoenix as well as of this small size, making it exceptionally unusual and appealing.