Lot 213. An underglaze-blue and yellow-enamel 'Gardenia' dish, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521); 20 cm, 7 7/8  in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HK. Lot sold 937,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, freely painted on the interior in shaded tones of cobalt with a leafy branch bearing two five-petalled gardenia blooms and a tightly closed bud, encircled on the cavetto by fruiting branches of pomegranate, grape, peach and a beribboned lotus bouquet, all between double-line borders, the underside with a continuous floral scroll of large blooming roses borne on a foliate stem, between double lines at the rim and foot, all reserved on a deep yellow-enamel ground, save for a white base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within double circles

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 7th May 1963, lot 53.
Collection of the Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Sotheby's London, 9th June 2004, lot 40.

Exposition: Oriental Blue and White, Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1988, cat. no. 14. 

Sotheby's. Important Ming Porcelain from a Private Collection, Hong Kong, 08 oct. 2013.