Lot 47. A small wucai ‘Shoulao’ dish, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619). Estimate HKD 400,000 — 600,000 (45,157 - 67,735 EUR). Lot Sold 1,125,000 HKD (127,003 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

with shallow rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a flared rim, intricately painted to the interior with a central medallion enclosing Shoulao standing before a crane under a gnarled pine tree with an attendant beside in a garden landscape with colourful scrolling clouds, the cavetto with a foliate meander bearinglingzhi heads supporting stylised shou characters, painted to the exterior with eight floral sprays between a band of swirls and a double-line border, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle - 12.3 cm, 4 7/8  in.

Provenance: J.T. Tai, New York, 1957.
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1957 (£100).
Collection of Derek Ide (d. 1979), from 1957 to 1959 (£140).
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1960 (£100).
Collection of Wilfried A. Evill (d. 1963), from 1960 to 1965 (£165). 
Sotheby's London, 30th November 1965, lot 46 (£250). 
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1965 (£250).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1965.

Note: This finely enamelled piece belongs to a distinct group of porcelain dishes painted in either underglaze blue or wucaienamels with Daoists Immortals and a scroll of lingzhi supporting shou characters on the rim. Compare a closely related dish sold in these rooms, 12th/13th May 1976, lot 60.

A larger dish of this type, the interior decorated with the Three Star Gods, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1966, vol. 3, pl. 107; another painted with an immortal riding a mule, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics. Ming Dynasty, Shanghai, 1999, vol. 13 (pt. 2), pl. 117, together with another in the Capital Museum, Beijing, pl. 116; and two further dishes were included in the exhibition The Fame of Flame. Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2009, pls. 114 and 115.

See also two blue-and-white dishes painted with a similar design, sold in these rooms, the first, 16th May 1977, lot 87, and again, 21st May 1979, lot 49, and the second, 16th May 1989, lot 123.

Sotheby's. The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 06 Apr 2016