Page 92 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

Treasured Throughout Asia

Rosemary Scott
Senior International Academic Consultant,
Asian Art

This superb dish represents a particular type of fine blue and white Chinese The rulers of the Safavid Empire also highly esteemed Chinese early 15th
porcelain that was especially prized by the imperial families of the great century dishes of the type represented by the current lot. The Safavid
Asian empires of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The dish was made at the Dynasty ruled Iran from AD 1501 to 1736. It is believed that the Safavid
imperial kilns of the Chinese Yongle Emperor (1403-25), who is known for the family came from Iranian Kurdistan, but eventually settled in Ardabil in the
outstanding quality of the decorative arts made for his court. Several dishes Azerbaijan region in the 11th century AD. Chinese porcelains are particularly
of similar size and shape – some decorated in underglaze blue and some in associated with one site in this area – the famous Ardabil Shrine. Building
gilt - have been excavated from Yongle strata at the site of the imperial kilns work at Ardebil was begun in the reign of the founder of the Safavid dynasty,
at Jingdezhen. An underglaze blue-decorated example with an alternative Shah Isma’il I (r. 1501-24).
choice of motifs is illustrated by the Chang Foundation in Imperial Hongwu
and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996, pp. 165-5, no. When Shah ‘Abbas (r. AD 1571–1629), the 5th Safavid Shah, came to the
50. An identical dish to the current vessel is preserved in the collection of throne, work on one particular aspect of the Ardebil Shrine intensified,
the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of a Special and in 1607/8 Shah ‘Abbas endowed 1,162 pieces of valuable pieces of
Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, Taipei, 1982, p. 102, no. 37, while a Chinese porcelain. In the summer of 1611, the Shah ordered them installed
very similar dish, but with waves around the flattened rim, is preserved in the in the Chini-khaneh (China Chamber) of the Ardabil Shrine. The idea of a
Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures Chini-khaneh was one that appears to have its origins in Timurid dynasty,
of the Palace Museum, vol. 34, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red as the Sultan Ulugh Beg (r. 1447-49) is believed to have built a Chini-khaneh
(I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 62, no. 59. to house his collection of Chinese blue and white porcelain (see T. Lentz
and G. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, Los Angeles, 1989, p. 228). So
The rulers of the Turkish Ottoman Empire also greatly valued Chinese blue great was the Safavid admiration for dishes exactly like the current lot that
and white dishes of this type. Clear evidence for this can be seen in the today eleven examples are still preserved in the Ardabil collection (three are
Chinese collection of the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, which contains a illustrated by J.A. Pope in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, London,
number of early 15th century Chinese blue and white dishes of similar shape 1981, pl. 35, nos. 29.101-111).
and size, with variants of the decorative motifs - illustrated by J. Ayers and R.
Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Instanbul, vol. II, Yuan and Ming The Indian Mughal Empire is particularly associated with the current dish,
Dynasty Porcelain, London, 1986, pp. 512-4, nos. 601, 602, and 605. These since on one side of the vessel a lapidary has cut an inscription into the
Chinese porcelains were so highly regarded in the Ottoman Empire that in glaze, naming Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58), who was the 5th Mughal Emperor,
the 16th century the Turkish potters of Iznik produced low-fired dishes with son of Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and favourite grandson of Emperor
the same flattened bracket-lobed rim and very similar blue decoration. A Akbar (r. 1556-1605). The inscription includes the title Sahib Qiran thani, the
Turkish Iznik, high-footed, blue and white pottery dish, dated to AD 1560-70, Second Lord of the [Celestial] Conjunction, a title taken by Shah Jahan that
with bracket-lobed rim and decoration clearly inspired by a dish like the also reinforced the Mughal lineage, since the original Sahib Qiran was Timur
current Chinese vessel, was offered by Sotheby’s London in their Arts of the (Tamerlane r. 1370 – 1405), back to whom the Mughals traced their line. The
Islamic World sale, 23 October 2019, lot 269. inscription also includes a date AH 1046, corresponding to AD 1637-38. It
has been noted that the habit of inscribing precious objects or gems with
the name of their owner was a Timurid fashion that was adopted, along with
other aspects of imperial style, by the Mughals.

Lot 1551 (inscription)

Lot 1551