Page 69 - Tianminlou Hong Kong Sotheby's April 3 2019

bear any resemblance to those of the natural plant at all. they were regarded as status symbols, and were valuable
Scrolling flowers and leaves as an ornamental pattern, commodities in the contemporary art market. Literature on
appear to have come from the West. The idea had traveled connoisseurship invariably placed Xuande blue-and-white
from the Mediterranean countries to India, Central Asia porcelain on top, before Chenghua, Jiajing and Wanli, see
and China. First used in architectural stone ornaments, Clarence F. Shangraw, ‘Fifteenth Century Blue-and-White
seen on plinths of temples and on religious sculpture, it Porcelain in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco’,
was gradually introduced on silver ware for secular use and Chinese Ceramics. Selected articles from Orientations 1982-
was finally exploited on porcelain, as a standard decorative 1998, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 102-115, p. 106.
pattern, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Ornament. The Lotus An identical bowl is in the National Palace Museum in
and the Dragon, London, 1990.
Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Mingdai Xuande
On account of the bowl’s solid potting, several ideas have guanyao jingcui tezhan tulu/ Catalogue of the Special
been put forward regarding its use. Dice playing has been Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the
suggested since some bowls show unusual wear on the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 43; another bowl is
interior. The bowl’s thick walls, plain white inside, would in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, illustrated in Stuart
have been a perfect battleground for cricket fighting, Young, ‘An Analysis of Chinese Blue and White’, Oriental
traditionally a popular pastime in China. They may also Art, Summer 1956, New Series volume II, number 2, pl. 47,
have served as brush washers or as fruit bowls or simply fig. 11, no. 36; a third example from the collection of C.T.
have been multifunctional. Loo was included in the exhibition Ming Blue-and-White,
Philadelphia Museum Bulletin, 1949, no. 64, probably the
Bowls of this shape were popular in their time and
were manufactured with a variety of designs, including same bowl which was included in Chinese Ceramics from
composite flower scrolls, fruiting sprigs, lingzhi, lotus the Prehistoric Period through Ch’ien Lung’, Los Angeles
with Buddhist emblems and the ‘three friends of winter’. Museum, Los Angeles 1952, no. 281; and a fourth piece is
Although mostly known from the Xuande period, they illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshū: Ceramic Art of the World,
were already produced earlier, in the Yongle period. For vol. 14: Ming Dynasty, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 150. At auction, a
a precursor of this type of bowl, compare an unmarked bowl from the collection of J.M. Hu, was sold in our New
example painted with a beautiful rose design, illustrated York rooms, 4th of June 1985, lot 6; another was sold in
in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang these rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 19.
Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1654. Two smaller bowls of the same pattern are in the National
Palace Museum in Taipei, one included in Illustrated
While blue-and-white porcelain production was abundant,
quality control was extremely strict. Tons of shards of Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, Taipei, 1977, no. 60;
smashed pieces, deemed unsatisfactory, have been the other in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue-
uncovered at the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen, see and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, book II (part 2), Hong
Jingdezhen Zhushan chutu Yongle Xuande guanyao ciqi Kong, 1983, no. 46. A closely related bowl is also found in
zhanlan/Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande the Palace Museum in Beijing, with a differently painted
Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial lotus scroll, and florets at the foot and rim, illustrated in
Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989. Geng Baochang, Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua
ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace
Not surprisingly, Xuande porcelains became desirable Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. 2, pl. 141, together with a bowl
collector’s items. Particularly during the late Ming period, decorated with lingzhi, pl. 140.