A wucai 'Flowers and Fruit' dish, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620)
Lot 3005. A wucai 'Flowers and Fruit' dish, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); 26.3 cm., 10 3/8 in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,120,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.
the shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot to an everted rim, the interior brightly decorated with bees hovering over a bowl of fruits and flowers atop a wood stand with acanthus-leaf feet, the bowl painted in underglaze blue with a key-fret band encircling the rim and stylised scrolls around the body, the blue and white bowl decorated with lotus flowers, bountifully arranged with a lotus flower, pomegranates, peaches, lychees, grapes and other kinds of fruits and leaves, a bundle of grapes overflowing from each side of the bowl, the exterior decorated with six sprigs of flowers and peaches, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character mark within double circles.
Provenance: Christie's South Kensington, 14th June 1990 (cover).
Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2014