Page 332 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

(reverse)

1336
A RARE YELLOW-GROUND BLUE AND WHITE ‘GARDENIA’ DISH In the catalogue for the exhibition of ceramics from the Idemitsu Museum,
ZHENGDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN In Pursuit of the Dragon: Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics, Seattle
A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1506-1521) Art Museum, 1988, p. 98, Mary Ann Rogers discusses this group of dishes
The dish is well potted with low rounded sides rising to a slightly faring rim, with distinctive decoration made beginning in the Xuande period and
and is fnely decorated in underglaze-blue with a central gardenia spray continuing through the 15th and 16th centuries. The Idemitsu collection
bearing two fowers, below the evenly spaced sprays of a beribboned lotus has examples from each of the fve reign eras during which the type
fower and pod, a persimmon branch with two fruits, grapes on a leafy vine, was produced, and the group is largely consistent with just a few minor
and a branch laden with two pomegranates in the cavetto. The exterior is diferences in the treatment of fowers and fruit.
decorated with six peony blossoms on a continuous meander, all on a rich
yellow ground within double-line borders. Other examples with Zhengde marks are in some of the world’s greatest
collections, including the collection of the Percival David Foundation,
7æ in. (19.7 cm.) diam., Japanese double wood box
illustrated by M. Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares,
London, 1978, pl. III, no. 29 and in the Smithsonian Institution, illustrated in
$100,000-150,000 Ming Porcelains in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953, p. 35,
nos. 31 and 32.
PROVENANCE
Acquired in Japan, 1980s. The choice of fruit and botanical motifs on these dishes was not random.
The fowers of the boldly painted gardenia decorating the center of the
interior were admired for their beauty and fragrance while the fruit of the
plant provided a fne yellow dye.
明正德 黃地青花梔子花紋盤 雙圈六字楷書款

(another view)

330