EARLY MING DYNASTY, 15TH CENTURY

The carved decoration on the present bowl relates closely to the designs found on contemporaneous blue and white bowls. There are numerous examples of fifteenth-century porcelain bowls with dense lotus scrolls or composite floral scrolls on the exterior and on the interior encircling a central floral medallion, such as the Yongle blue and white example illustrated by J. A. Pope, Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington D.C., 1956, pl. 47 (top left). A Longquan celadon bowl with similarly carved designs and of nearly identical shape, dated to the Yongle-Xuande period (1403-1435), was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3292.