XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1426-1435)

A Xuande-marked bowl of similar form, but decorated with anhua decoration, is in the British Museum and is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 122, no. 4:2. Hall states that the Xuande Emperor was in mourning for his father, the Hongzhi emperor, and his grandfather, the Yongle emperor, when he ascended the throne in 1426. As white was the color of mourning in China, a large quality of white utensils were likely ordered at this time to commemorate the Emperor’s ancestors. Compare, also, another bowl published in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, no. 769.