Lot 141. The Leshantang Collection. A rare red-glazed dish, Incised mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435); 16.8 cm. Lot Sold 406,400 HKD (Estimate 300,000 - 400,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2024

potted with rounded sides resting on a tapered foot, applied overall with copper-red glaze, the glaze thinning and fading towards the rim, the base left white and incised with a six-character reign mark within a double circle, metal-bound rim.

Literature: The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 13.

Note: While copper began to be used at the Jingdezhen porcelain manufactories in the Yuan dynasty and was experimented with throughout the Hongwu reign, it was only in the Yongle period that a satisfactory bright red began to be achieved after many adjustments of glaze recipes, firing conditions and temperatures. Despite the tremendous effort in perfecting the pigment during the Yongle and Xuande reigns, a large number of shards were discarded at the Jingdezhen kiln sites, highlighting the difficulties experienced by even the highly accomplished imperial potters of that time to achieve satisfactory results. 

Extant heirloom examples of either period are extremely rare; Compare a copper-red heirloom dish with an incised reign mark in the Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 170.