Lot 3030. An unusual blue and white 'Mythical Beasts' bowl, Mark and Period of Wanli (1573-1620); 20.3 cm., 8 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,360,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's 2014

finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a slightly tapering foot to an everted rim, decorated around the exterior in cobalt with nine mythical sea creatures against a background of turbulent waves, all between a 'classic' scroll band encircling the rim and foot, the interior similarly decorated with a medallion enclosing a dragon with leaf-shaped wings within a double-line border, surrounded by five further mythical beasts and a further 'classic' scroll band bordering the rim, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within double circles.

Provenance: An old Japanese collection.

Note: A closely related bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol. 6, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 18; another in the Shanghai Museum is published in Lu Minghua, Qingdai guanyao ciqi[Imperial ceramics of the Qing dyansty], Shanghai 2007, pl. 1-83, together with a smaller underglaze-blue and iron red version, pl. 3-57; and a fourth example, but with a floral band encircling the rim and slightly smaller in size, was sold in our London rooms, 13th March 1973, lot 250.

Compare a Xuande bowl of this type illustrated in Chen Ching-kuang, ‘Sea Creatures on Ming Imperial Porcelain’, The Porcelains of Jingdezhen, London, 1993, pl. 1, where it is suggested that this motif may be related to the auspicious creatures described in the Shan Hai Jing [Classic of mountains and seas], a mythical geography of China from the late Bronze Age.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2014