Lot 233. A white-glazed anhua-decorated stembowl, Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period (1403-1424); Height 4 3/4 in., 12 cm. Estimation 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Lot sold 87,500 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

with deep rounded sides rising to a flared rim, supported on a tall slightly spreading hollow foot, decorated in anhua on the interior with a ruyi in the center and a pair of dragons chasing a 'flaming pearl' around the sides, the exterior plain and covered overall with an even creamy-white glaze. 

Provenance: Collection of Peter Scheinman.
Christie's New York, 23rd March 1995, lot 94.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th October 2001, lot 560.

Note: In the 1980s excavations at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen revealed that a number of white wares, some decorated with anhua designs, including stembowls, were produced for imperial ceremonial use. For a further discussion see Liu Xinyuan, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 58-59. Compare also two bowls both with flared sides and each bearing an anhua Yongle reign mark, the first in the British Museum, with a similar anhua dragon motif published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, fig. 3:1, p. 98; and the other from the Brankston Collection, illustrated in Rose. Kerr (ed.), Chinese Art and Design, London, 1991, p. 176, fig. 80 (right).

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM