A rare large Ming-style blue and white 'Lotus bouquet' dish, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze-blue and of the period (1736-1795). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014.

The interior of the dish is finely painted in cobalt blue with simulated 'heaping and piling' to depict a bouquet of lotus and other auspicious plants tied with a fluttering ribbon. The cavetto is decorated with eight large flower heads interspersed with smaller flowers and leafy scrolls, below an everted rim painted with stylised foliage. The exterior is similarly decorated with flowers and leafy scrolls. 16? in. (41.1 cm.) diam. Estimate £100,000 – £120,000 ($167,900 - $201,480)

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR

Notes: The present dish is modelled after blue and white 'lotus bouquet' dishes from the Ming period. Such dishes with lotus designs belong to an important group of early Ming wares together with 'grape' dishes, 'melon' dishes and 'dragon' dishes. J. A. Pope discusses the thirty-four 'bouquet' dishes of varying size and with varying borders in the Ardebil Collection, showing the wide range of intensity of the cobalt blue and the diversity of decoration, see Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, D.C., 1956, p. 92. Some of these variations can be seen, ibid., on pls. 30 and 31. Several examples of 'lotus bouquet' dishes dating to the Yongle period (1403-1424) were previously sold at auction, including one at Christie's New York, 19 March 2009, lot 711; and one at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2009, lot lot 1804.

It is rare to find a Qianlong marked dish with this design, as it is more common to find these blue and white 'lotus bouquet' dishes with Yongzheng marks.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 13 May 2014, London, King Street - http://www.christies.com/