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Lot Essay
Large, finely potted dishes of this type were especially esteemed in India and the Middle East, a preference reflected in the many surviving examples preserved in collections in Istanbul and Tehran, as well as by the numerous ceramic copies made in their wake. For related examples displaying the range of decorative designs found on these dishes, see R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. 2, London, 1985, pp. 512–514, nos. 599–607, and J. A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 34, no. 29:88, which illustrates a dish comparable in size and decoration to the present example.
Dishes of this type were also highly valued in China from an early date. An example of the same design was excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in 1994 and later included in the Chang Foundation exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996, p. 153, no. 44. Other closely related dishes are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, pl. 37; the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation Collection, exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Ming and Ch’ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, 1978, no. 5; the Baur Collection, Geneva, published by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, vol. II, 1969, no. A140; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition An Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, 1949, p. 36, no. 38 (lent by C. T. Loo). Auction records for comparable Yongle dishes include examples from the Henry M. Knight Collection sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 4 June 2019, lot 27; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 2152; and Christie’s New York, 25 March 2022, lot 1044.
Dishes of this type were also highly valued in China from an early date. An example of the same design was excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in 1994 and later included in the Chang Foundation exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996, p. 153, no. 44. Other closely related dishes are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, pl. 37; the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation Collection, exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Ming and Ch’ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, 1978, no. 5; the Baur Collection, Geneva, published by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, vol. II, 1969, no. A140; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition An Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, 1949, p. 36, no. 38 (lent by C. T. Loo). Auction records for comparable Yongle dishes include examples from the Henry M. Knight Collection sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 4 June 2019, lot 27; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 2152; and Christie’s New York, 25 March 2022, lot 1044.