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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON AND FISH’ 明嘉靖 青花外魚藻紋內雲龍紋盌 《大明嘉靖
BOWL, MARK AND PERIOD OF JIAJING 年製》款
the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within
a double circle 來源
Diameter 6 in., 15.3 cm 里埃斯科收藏，編號207a及253
倫敦蘇富比1984年12月11日，編號328
PROVENANCE Spink & Son, Ltd.，倫敦
R.F.A. Riesco Collection, nos 207a and 253. Soudavar 收藏
Sotheby’s London, 11th December 1984, lot 328.
Spink & Son, Ltd., London.
Soudavar Collection.
This rare and characterful bowl combines two auspicious
motifs popular during the Jiajing reign (1522-1566). To the
exterior, the bowl is decorated with four fish frolicking among
underwater foliage. This tranquil motif, seemingly a favorite
of the Jiajing Emperor, is commonly associated with a sense
of Daoist calm and a well-known passage from the Zhuangzi
in which the philosopher notes ‘Not being fish, how do we
know their happiness?’ Synonymous with the character for
‘excess’, fish (yu) have long been considered an emblem
of wealth and abundance and this four-fish combination in
particular (probably qing carp, bai whitefish, lian carp, and
gui perch) has been said to form a more complex rebus:
Qingbai liangui, ‘Of good descent, modest and honorable’
or Qingbai lianjie, ‘Of honorable descent and incorruptible’.
Similarly regal and auspicious, the interior decoration of
five-clawed dragons and a phoenix only further support the
piece’s imperial origins, with such motifs strictly restricted
by law to use in the Ming imperial court.
Bowls of this broad form, playful decoration and Jiajing mark
are very rare. Compare a closely related bowl of this design,
now preserved in the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art,
Toronto, illustrated in Patricia F. Ferguson, Cobalt Treasures:
The Robert Murray Bell and Ann Walker Bell Collection of
Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, Toronto, 2003, pl. 69;
another from the Ezekiel Collection, sold in our London
rooms, 21st May 1946, lot 84; another from the collection of
Henry Adams, sold at Christie’s London 6th October 1975,
lot 155, and again in our London rooms, 12th December
1978, lot 389; and another, preserved in the Capital Museum,
Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji / The Complete
Works of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 12, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 155.

⊖ $ 70,000-90,000

344 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 345