Lot 1623. A fine and rare incised white-glazed bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 16.8 cm., 6 in. Est. 1,500,000—2,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,820,000 HKD. photo Sotheby's 2009

the deep rounded sides rising elegantly from the thick straight foot before gently flaring at the rim, finely incised on the exterior with large detached sprays of lotus, camellia, rose and peony with their respective buds, the interior with a medallion of two pomegranates on a leafy branch, applied overall with an opaque milk-white glaze displaying a light bluish-grey tint along the incised design. 

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's New York, 4th June 1982, lot 215.
Sotheby's London, 17th November 1999, lot 750.

NOTE; Two slightly larger bowls with similar incised designs from the Kempe collection in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, are illustrated in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol.8, Tokyo, 1982, nos. 206 and 210. Compare also a smaller undecorated white bowl from the early Yongle stratum of the Ming Imperial kiln site, included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1989, cat.no.16.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 08 Oct 09. Hong Kong