A rare blue and white 'Lotus' dish, mark and period of Wanli. Photo: Sotheby's.

the rounded sides rising to a barbed rim in the form of sixteen moulded lotus petals, the exterior with each petal enclosing a Tibetan character alternating with a floral bloom, the sides interrupted by a further row of moulded triangular petal tips with freely painted linear strokes, all above a lappet band encircling the underside, a single-line band bordering the foot, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a Tibetan character, encircled by two moulded rows of overlapping petals, the concave inner petals dotted and decorated with elongated trefoil motifs, the outer with trefoil motifs detailed with swirls, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within double circles; 19.3 cm., 7 5/8 in. Estimate 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 HKD

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London.
S. Marchant & Son, London.

Note: Closely related examples include a dish illustrated in Minji meihin zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains], vol. 3, Tokyo, 1978, pl. 90; one published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics, vol. II, Tokyo, 1990, pl. 113; another illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Chinese Ceramics, vol. 2, Genèva, 1969, pl. A185; and a fourth example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, included in Suzanne E. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 177, where it is suggested that dishes of this type were produced in the latter years of the Wanli reign, see p. 197. A dish of this type was sold in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 1369; and another was sold in our New York rooms, 1st June 1988, lot 147.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong - www.sothebys.com