Page 31 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

All seven white-on-blue in the Palace Museum, Beijing collection
are dishes and marked with six-character Xuande reign marks in
regular script executed in underglaze blue. Based on their surface
decorations, they can be divided into four groups. The first group
consists of four dishes decorated with fish and aquatic plants
(figs.1-1, 1-2, 1-3). Two of them were previously in the Qing Imperial
collection, and the other two were acquired respectively in 1957
and 1966. The shapes of these four dishes differ slightly from one
another, particularly at the rims. One has a slightly inverted rim, while
the other three have flared mouths. Their dimensions and surface
decorations are, however, comparable—all with a mouth diameter of
about 19cm and two fish and aquatic plants in a lotus pond reserved
in the centre on a blue ground, the reverse with fish among four lotus
scrolls. The fish and lotus reserved in white are further incised with
details. The base is glazed white and marked with a six-character
Xuande mark in a double circle in underglaze blue. Similar designs Fig.1.1 A blue and white reserve-decorated dish, Xuande mark and period;
image courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing
of fish and aquatic plants in a lotus pond can also be seen on other
Xuande blue-and-white porcelains in the collection. Apparently,
these designs came from the same design template used for Imperial
porcelain. In the Imperial protocol of porcelain use of the Ming Court,
the white-on-blue wares enjoyed the same status as the sacrificial
blue wares as ritual vessels used at the Sacrifice to Heaven. They
were also treasured by the emperors during the Qing dynasty as
precious items from the former Court collection. One entry about
the furnishing of the Qianqinggong 乾清宫 (The Palace of Heavenly
Purity) from the sixth year of the Qianlong reign in the Archives of the
Workshop of the Imperial Household Department states that:

‘On the first day of the twelfth month, the siku controller Bai Shixiu
reported, eunuch Gao Yu came to deliver the imperial decree: select
one hundred grade-three dishes from those with matching boxes to
present to the emperor. Today, the selected dishes were handed over
by the siku controller Bai Shixiu to eunuch Gao Yu to present to the Fig.1.2 A blue and white reserve-decorated dish, Xuande mark and period;
emperor. Another Imperial decree is delivered: make matching stands image courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing
for eight Zhengde period dishes of underglaze blue on a yellow
ground and one Xuande period dish with white double fish reserved
on a blue ground. Made samples first for the emperor to review and
wait for approval to proceed. End of the decree.’

Indeed, it is recorded in the Archives that the Qianlong emperor
had graded porcelain and other antiquities from the former Imperial
collection and commissioned stands and boxes for those of a certain
grade. These items were then kept in the Duanningdian 端凝殿 (Hall
of Consolidating Dignity), which is part of the Qianqinggong. Looking
at the collections of the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei,
the porcelains in the Qing Imperial collection with grades are all of
superior quality.

Fig.1.3 A blue and white reserve-decorated dish, Xuande mark and period;
image courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing

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