An incised and anhua-decorated white-glazed bowl, Ming Dynasty, Yongle period.. Photo Sotheby's

of deep almost conical form rising from a straight foot, the exterior incised with a wide band of floral scroll bearing three chrysanthemum blossoms alternating with peonies amidst foliage, buds and smaller blooms, below a keyfret border around the rim, the interior decorated in the anhua technique with slender, pointed lotus petals radiating from a medallion of two chrysanthemums on a single leafy stalk and rising to a narrow wave scroll collar below the rim, the shallow ring foot enclosing a plain, pointed base, the white glaze of even tone thinning slightly at the lip; 20.6cm., 8 1/8 in. Estimate 80,000-120,000 GBP. Unsold. 

PROVENANCE: Collection of Dr. Ip Yee.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th November 1984, lot 194.

EXHIBITED: Monochrome Ceramics of Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1977, cat. no. 128.
Jingdezhen Wares. The Yuan Evolution Exhibition, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 157.

NOTE: This elegantly formed bowl is finely decorated in the subtle anhua technique, a technique that is peculiar to the early Ming period where the designs appear to have been impressed into a thin layer of slip under the glaze. This faint shadow was often only visible when held against the light. Such decorative innovations were only possible with thesignificant developments in porcelain production during the Yongle period and can be seen in the refinement of white wares, resulting in smooth, creamy and semi-translucent vessels suitable for their ritual purposes.

A closely related bowl is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the MeiyintangCollection, vol. II, London, 1994, pl. 649, together with a Yongle blue and white bowl of the sameform but with the decoration reversed, the flower scroll painted around the interior and the slender lotus petals on the exterior, pl. 670.

Further related bowls include one published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, London, 1986, pl. 632; another from the Mrs Alfred Clark and Luff collections, sold twice in these rooms, 24th March 1953, lot 39, and 25th June 1973, lot 247, and included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1957, cat. no. 90; and a third example from the M.C. Wang, Edward T. Chow and Mathias Komor collections, sold at Christie's New York, 20th September 2001, lot 133.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Londres | 09 Nov 2011 www.sothebys.com