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Lot Essay
The present bowl belongs to a rare group of lobed vessels from the Yongle and Xuande periods. Only two other almost identical bowls but both smaller in size appear to have been published: the first (17.9 cm. diam.) from the T. Y. Chao Collection, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18 November 1986, lot 40; the other (18.4 cm. diam.) in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated by Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Shanghai, 1987, no. 133. Compare also with two other lobed bowls painted with fish among aquatic plants, one smaller (18.4 cm. diam.) is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 334-335, no. 140 (fig. 1); the other larger (23 cm.) was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 April 2017, lot 101.
The unusual lobed form is also found on stem bowls and washers of this period, such as the examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see ibid., for stem bowls with dragon roundels (no. 111), floral roundels (no. 112), cartouches containing pairs of phoenix (no. 113), and cartouches containing a single dragon identical to the present design (no. 114) (fig. 2); and for washers with dragon and phoenix roundels (no. 182), and cartouches with dragons (no. 183).
The unusual lobed form is also found on stem bowls and washers of this period, such as the examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see ibid., for stem bowls with dragon roundels (no. 111), floral roundels (no. 112), cartouches containing pairs of phoenix (no. 113), and cartouches containing a single dragon identical to the present design (no. 114) (fig. 2); and for washers with dragon and phoenix roundels (no. 182), and cartouches with dragons (no. 183).