Page 73 - Sotheby's Sir Quo Wei Lei Collection Oct. 3, 2018

After an interruption in the Hongwu reign, the Yongle Emperor Further dishes of this pattern include a dish from the Swedish
re-established relations with the Timurid ruler Shahrukh Mirza Royal Collections, now in the Museum of Far Eastern
(r. 1405-1447), which led to frequent mutual exchanges of Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The
luxury goods between the two empires, including blue and World’s Great Collections, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 213; two
white porcelains. Dishes of this design formerly in the Ardebil from the collection of Sir Percival David, the first, now in the
Shrine and now in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, British Museum, London, published in Oriental Ceramics.
are illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains The World’s Great Collections, vol. 6, pl. 74, and the second,
from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington D.C., 1956, pls 37-39, sold in our London rooms, 8th July 1974, lot 190; and another
and in Misugi Takatoshi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in dish, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the
the Near East. Topkapi and Ardebil, Hong Kong, 1981, vol. Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 4, 2010, pl. 1638, and sold
III, pls A 40-42. Dishes of this design are also found in the in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 21, from the Meiyintang
Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated in Regina Krahl, collection.
Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, The grape motif is comparatively rare on Chinese works of
London, 1986, vol. II, pls 605 and 606; a dish inscribed with art as the fruit was mainly grown in Central Asia. It was first
the name of the Mughal Shah Jahan ibn Jahangir Shah (AD introduced in the Tang dynasty when the Silk Road enabled
1593-1666) and a date equivalent to AD 1643-1644, from a close contact with this region, and re-appeared in the Yuan
the Avery Brundage collection, in the Asian Art Museum of dynasty, when China again had many economic and cultural
San Francisco, illustrated in The Asian Art Museum of San ties with the West, before becoming increasingly popular
Francisco. Selected Works, San Francisco, 1994, p. 106, and during the Yongle reign.
sold in our London rooms, 24th March 1964, lot 96.