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Lot Essay
Early Ming Imperial porcelains often show strong influences from Islamic or Central Asian cultures. The current ‘grapes’ dish is an excellent example. Grapes are among the plants that are recorded as having been brought to China from Central Asia by Zhang Qian, a returning envoy of Emperor Wu in 128 BC, and many different varieties of grape were grown in China by the early 15th century. Records show that both green and black grapes were grown by the beginning of the 6th century. Grapes rarely appear as decoration on Chinese art objects of the early period, but became a more popular motif in the Tang dynasty, when, again under Western influences, they were used regularly, for example, as part of the ubiquitous ‘lion and grape’ motif on bronze mirrors. It was in the early 15th century that grapes became a really popular motif on porcelains decorated in underglaze cobalt blue.
Similar examples include one in the Exhibition of Blue and White Wares, Shanghai Museum, 1998, catalogue no. 24; a dish formerly in the Gustav VI Adolf Collection, and now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha series, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 216; an example in the Percival David Foundation, London, in Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains, London, 2004, pp. 27-28, no. 685; one in the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul, is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul-II -Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains, London, 1986, p. 514, no. 606; and five dishes of this type, preserved in the collection of the Ardebil Shrine, now in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, illustrated in J.A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, London, 1981, p. 38, nos. 29.50-54.
Similar examples include one in the Exhibition of Blue and White Wares, Shanghai Museum, 1998, catalogue no. 24; a dish formerly in the Gustav VI Adolf Collection, and now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, Kodansha series, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 216; an example in the Percival David Foundation, London, in Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains, London, 2004, pp. 27-28, no. 685; one in the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul, is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul-II -Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains, London, 1986, p. 514, no. 606; and five dishes of this type, preserved in the collection of the Ardebil Shrine, now in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, illustrated in J.A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, London, 1981, p. 38, nos. 29.50-54.