Page 72 - Sotheby's Sir Quo Wei Lei Collection Oct. 3, 2018

The elegant design on this dish represents one of the great Dishes painted with this motif, always featuring three clusters
classic patterns of the Yongle period that demonstrates the of grapes issuing from a single stem, vary in few but distinct
developments achieved by Jingdezhen’s potters and painters ways: the sides are either rounded or lobed and the rims are
in the short time period, since blue and white porcelain began straight or barbed. Among surviving examples, the present
to be made there. Indeed, under the Yongle Emperor not piece is particularly outstanding for its fine potting, smooth,
only did the quality of porcelain and stylistic sophistication tactile glaze and lush fruit pattern that beautifully displays the
reach unprecedented heights, its value to the court also characteristic ‘heaping and piling’ of the cobalt blue – a much-
evolved from that of an exquisite practical item of the imperial copied trademark of imperial blue and white porcelains from
household to becoming a commodity with economic and the early Ming dynasty.
diplomatic potential to the Emperor.
Dishes of this design made for the court include one from the
The Yongle Emperor was an outward looking monarch, Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in Geng
and his reign was marked by numerous official expeditions Baochang ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang. Ming chu qinghua ci
abroad. Large dishes painted in underglaze blue were made [Early Ming blue and white porcelain in the Palace Museum],
at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, where Beijing, 2002, vol. II, pl. 135, together with a dish of this design
production was carefully monitored. Porcelains here were with a barbed rim, pl. 133; one in the Shanghai Museum,
produced for the court, its specifications defined and quality published in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial
monitored by the court, and its distribution organised by porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 1-16; and a third, reputedly
the court and assured through official channel. While quality given by the Empress Dowager Cixi to Sir Robert Hart,
control was stringent in this period, so as to make porcelains Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Customs at the
impeccable, designs were jealously guarded, so no copies Chinese Treaty Ports, on his retirement in 1908.
could be made by lesser kilns that might be confused with the
original and in this way harm the repute and prestige of the
product.