Page 120 - Fine Chinese Ceramics Sept 2016
P. 120
1318 and Ming Dynasty Porcelains, London, 1986, p. 514, no. 606. The
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘GRAPES’ DISH popularity of such dishes at the Persian, Indian and Turkish courts
YONGLE PERIOD (1403-1425) explains the infuence that dishes of this design exerted on lower-
The interior is well-painted with a leafy grapevine bearing three fred blue and white wares made by the Isnik potters of Turkey.
bunches of grapes as well as coiling tendrils, encircled by a band The Isnik potters produced dishes of similar pattern in the period
of composite foliate scroll in the rounded cavetto, the meandering AD 1530-40. See R. Scott, The Burrell Collection, London and
leafy stem bearing twelve diferent fowers and buds. The everted Glasgow, 1983, p. 79, pl. 11, left-hand side.
rim is decorated with a band of wind-tossed waves, and the exterior
with a further band of composite foliate scroll, all in inky tones of Grapes began to gain popularity as a motif on blue and white
underglaze blue enhanced by ‘heaping and piling.’ porcelain in the early 15th century, although it had appeared very
occasionally on 14th-century porcelains. Grapes are recorded as
15 in. (38.1 cm.) diam. having been brought to China from Central Asia by Zhang Qian,
an envoy of Emperor Wudi, when he returned to China in 128
$200,000-300,000 BC. Both green and black grapes are recorded as being grown in
China by the beginning of the 6th century AD, and there is even
PROVENANCE a seedless variety mentioned in texts from the Song dynasty.
By the early 15th century many diferent varieties of grape were
John Sparks LTD., London, England (according to label). grown. The grapes were eaten fresh, as well as dried in the form
Vallin Galleries, Wilton, Connecticut, 1990s. of raisins, but do not seem to have been used to make wine until
the Tang dynasty. Actually, the Yongle dish with this blue and
Five blue and white dishes of this design are preserved in the white porcelain design provides an interesting illustration of the
collection from the Ardebil Shrine, now in the Iran Bastan way infuences travelled back and forth across Asia. Both the
Museum, Tehran. See J. A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the grape plant and its use as a decorative motif entered China from
Ardebil Shrine, London, 1981, p. 38, nos. 29.50-54. Each of these the West during the Han dynasty, but in the 15th century Chinese
has the Qarachaghay mark drilled into the base, suggesting that dishes with this design travelled West entering palace collections
they may have belonged to a man who served Shah Abbas at the in Iran, India and Turkey. Turkish potters then copied the Chinese
highest level, and indicating the high esteem in which such dishes blue and white dishes depicting grapes in their Isnik blue and
were held in Iran. Another similar dish, sold at Sotheby’s London, white wares.
March 24, 1964, lot 96, bore an inscription naming Shah Jahan,
the Moghul ruler of India (1627-58). A further example preserved in 明永樂 青花葡萄紋盤
the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul, is illustrated by R. Krahl and J. Ayers,
Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul - II - Yuan
118 (reverse)
