Page 188 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK
P. 188
3185 A range of innovative shapes were introduced in the Jiajing period, and
this type of square dish with flaring sides was one of these new forms.
A MING WUCAI ‘PEONY’ SQUARE DISH
In wucai enamels, similar dishes include one bequeathed by Harry
JIAJING SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF Oppenheim, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the
THE PERIOD (1522-1566) British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 9:115, where the author compares
it to another example from an unnamed private Japanese collection,
The dish is well potted with wide flaring sides rising to a slightly illustrated by Yajima Ritsuko, Overglaze Enamel Ware in the Ming
everted rim. The interior is finely enamelled within a double Dynasty, Japan, 1996, no. 31; one in the Umezawa Gallery, included
square with four peonies springing up from behind a pierced in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, fig. 838, as well as in Sekai Toji Zenshu,
rockwork, all below butterflies and bees in flight. The cavetto is vol. 11, fig. 127; and one illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World,
decorated with two iron-red and two underglaze-blue striding Shogakukan Series, vol. 4, pl. 78. Compare also to a related dish sold
dragons, each enclosed within shaped panels reserved on a diaper at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2005, lot 1425.
ground with florettes in the corners. The reverse is decorated with
further clusters of flowers and insects, divided by lingzhi at the
corners.
6 in. (17.5 cm.) square, Japanese wood box
HK$300,000-400,000 US$39,000-52,000
185
