A 'Fahua' 'Peony'  bowl, Ming dynasty, 16th century. Estimate 80,000 — 100,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

the steeply rounded sides with finely applied trails of slip forming three large white flowering peony issuing from turquoise-glazed stems and leaves, all reserved on a deep aubergine ground, the rim and interior covered in an opaque turquoise glaze, Japanese Edo period wood box. Diameter 7 3/8  in., 18.9 cm

Notes: Fahua wares from the time of their production in the latter half of the Ming dynasty have been admired and acquired by Japanese connoisseurs and collectors. Several types of Fahua vessel are known to have been used in Japanese tea ceremonies and it is been suggested that these bowls were used at such occasions as water vessels or possibly incense burners.

For similar bowls with Fahua-type decoration see Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics In The British Museum, London, 2001, p. 424, nos. 13:29 and 13:30. Other bowls of this type are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, p. 144, no. 89.  A turquoise ground example is illustrated inSekai Toji Zenshu, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 14, p. 132, no. 133. Compare another in Museum Yamato Bunkaken illustrated inChugoku Toji: Chinese Ceramics from the Museum Yamato Bunkakan Collection, cat. no. 7, 1977. 

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM