Lot 61. A Blue and White 'Fish' Dish, Wanli Mark and Period (1573-1619); 18.5cm., 7 1/4 in. Estimate: 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. Lot sold 13,750 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

the rounded sides rising from a short foot to an everted flaring rim, the interior with a medallion enclosing a pair of fish swimming amidst a pond with waterweed, the decoration repeated on the exterior, inscribed to the base with a cash mark reading De hua changchun (virtue, culture and long life) encircled by a four-character Wanli mark in archaic script, all within a circle

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23rd May 1978, lot 53.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30th May 1996, lot 341.

Exhibited: From the Tang to the Qing: Chinese Ceramics from circa 618-1850 A.D. from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Peter Thompson, Hull University, Hull, 1996, cat. no. 77.

Note: Compare another dish of this type bearing the same cash mark to the base from the Zande Lou Collection, illustrated in Peter Lam, Elegant Vessels for the Lofty Pavilion. The Zande Lou Gift of Porcelain with Studio Marks, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 4.

Sotheby's. Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of Peter and Nancy Thompson, London, 07 november 2012