Bowl. Porcelain painted in underglaze blue, with a design of children playing on a terrace. Chinese. Jingdezhen. Ming dynasty, 1450-1464. Diameter: 22.1 cm, Height: 12.2 cm. FE.35-1972. Given by Mr. E.V. Lee in gratitude to England and its people. © V&A Images.

Thickly potted white porcelain bowl of deep conical shape on a straight foot. It is decorated using underglaze cobalt blue with a scene of boys playing in a garden and a fret work pattern around the foot.

This bowl is made of porcelain and is painted with cobalt blue under the glaze with a scene of boys playing in a garden. Boys were a common theme on Ming and Qing porcelains symbolising the desire for many sons and general familial prosperity. It is thought to have been made in the Ming period (1366-1644) between 1450 and 1464 based on sherds excavated from the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, south east China. 

Notes: Opinion of Liu Xinyuan 05/06/90 is that this bowl dates to either the Jingtai (1450-56) or Tianshun (1457-1464) reign based on sherds that have been excavated from above the Zhengtong levels and below Chenghua at Imperial kiln sites in Jingdezhen. 

David Foundation, 'Illustrated Catalogue' section 3, 1963, No. B.628, plate XVII, shows an inferior, later version. Another bowl is in the collection (1972) of Hugh Moss Ltd., see Sotheby's sale catalogue 23 May 1972, lot 127 (illustrated in a colour plate). A third bowl then belonging to W.W.Winkworth is reproduced by Adrian Joseph in 'Ming Porcelains: their Origins and Development', 1971, fig 40. See Taipei, National Palace Museum, 'Blue and White ware of the Ming Dynasty:III', plates 12-14 for three Chenghua marked bowls with similar subjects.

Bibliographic References: Jenyns, Soame 'Ming Pottery and Porcelain', 1951, plate 62B, p.95 

Ayers, John. 'Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum', colour plate No. 49.

Exhibition: Arte Cinese: Setticentenario di Marco Polo