A blue and white bowl, Wanli period (1573-1619).  Estimate $6,000 – $8,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The deep bowl, with bracket-lobed rim, is decorated on the exterior with a wide band of galloping horses, above leafy floral sprays. The interior is decorated with a central medallion containing a small mountainous landscape scene beneath a band of flaming wheels and a landscape border beneath the rim. The base is inscribed with a square seal reading fu gua jia qi ('Beautiful vessel for the rich and honorable'). 8 ½ in. (21.6 cm.) diam. Lot 3528

Provenance: Mason W. Wang, Maryland, 1980.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: This bowl is of a type that was popular across many markets at the end of the Ming dynasty. Similar Ming dynasty examples were found in the Hatcher Wreck, c. 1643, and pre-date the mid-17th century wares presumed to be contemporary with the shipwreck. For a similar example in the Groninger Museum, Groningen, see Maura Rinaldi,Kraak Porcelain, A Moment in the History of Trade, London, 1989, p. 146, pl. 168. See, also, the examples in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated by Regina Krahl and John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, London, 1986, vol. II, p. 725, no. 1280.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza