Page 100 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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PROPERTY OF A JAPANESE GENTLEMAN
AN AUBERGINE AND YELLOW ENAMELED
SQUARE ‘PHOENIX’ BOWL
JIAJING MARK AND PERIOD
each side with a subtle S-curved proÞ le imbuing the
quadrangular vessel with a rounded belly and ß ared rim set
above a tapered foot, incised and painted to the exterior
with a marigold-yellow phoenix soaring amidst scrolling lotus
above a lotus petal-band all against an aubergine ground, the
motif repeated at the well, the interior rim wrapped with a
continuous lingzhi scroll, the base with an incised and yellow-
enameled six-character mark on an aubergine ground,
Japanese wood box (3)
Width 6½ in., 16.5 cm
Square bowls of the present form appear to be an innovation
of the Jiajing period. Produced in varying palettes and
decorated with auspicious themes of ‘Dragons’, ‘Boys’, ‘Fish’
and ‘Phoenix and Crane’ that reß ected the Jiajing emperor’s
well-chronicled dedication to Daoism. The present bowl is
a rare expression of the form in both palette and subject
matter which depicts a phoenix in ß ight on all four sides
and the interior. Related examples of this theme are more
commonly expressed with alternating panels of phoenix
and crane; see one illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol.
14, Tokyo, 1976, p. 81, no. 82-83; another in the National
Palace Museum in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum,
Enamelled Wares of the Ming Dynasty, vol. II, 1966, Hong
Kong, pp. 58-59, pls. 6a, b, c, d; and a third in the British
Museum, London in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue
of Ming Polychrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation
of Chinese Art, London, 1978, pl. VI, no. 59.
$ 40,000-60,000
㖶▱曾ġġġ䳓⛘湫⼑䨧咖沛↘䲳㕡㔿䙫
˪⣏㖶▱曾⸜墥˫㫦

98 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART