A Very Rare Blue And White 'Bajixiang' Bowl. Wanli Six-Character Mark In Underglaze Blue In A Line Within A Double Rectangle And Of The Period (1573-1619). Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The deep bowl has flared, rounded sides raised on a high foot encircled by a band of classic scroll, and is painted on the exterior with elegant lotus scroll bearing eight blossoms, each positioned below one of the bajixiang (Eight Buddhist Emblems), above a petal border. The reign mark is written in a line within a double rectangle in the center of the interior and is encircled by a double line border. 6¼ in. (15.9 cm.) diam. Estimate $30,000 - $50,000

明萬曆 青花蓮托八寶紋盌 雙圈雙長方框六字楷書直款

Provenance: Acquired in San Francisco or London, 13 January 1972. 

Notes: A similar footed bowl, with similarly written Wanli mark, is illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Daxi - Mingdai Taoci Daquan (Chinese Ceramics Series - Ming Dynasty Ceramics, Taipei, 1983/1987, p. 412.

The refined combination of the lotus scroll subtly incorporating the bajixiang was inspired by similar bowls of earlier, Xuande date, such as the slightly smaller, but very similar bowl, with Xuande mark, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat, included in the Philadelphia Museum Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, and illustrated in thePhiladelphia Museum Bulletin, Autumn 1949, p. 70, no. 151. Another similar Xuande-marked bowl, in the National Museum of China, is illustrated in Zhongguo guojia bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu: ciqi juan: Ming dai (National Museum of China Series: Porcelain: Ming dynasty), Shanghai, 2007, p. 49, no. 41.

The elegant design continued into the 18th century, and can be seen on a Kangxi-marked, footed bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Qing Shunzhi Kangxi Chao Chinghua Ci (Blue and White Porcelain from Shunzhi and Kangxi Periods), Beijing, 2005, no. 115.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part II, 13 September 2012. New York, Rockefeller Plaza