Lot 83. A moulded ‘Longquan’ celadon bowl, early Ming dynasty. Estimate 25,000 — 35,000 HKD (2,822 - 3,951 EUR). Lot sold 68,750 HKD (7,761 EUR). Photo Sotheby's

heavily potted with deep rounded sides, resting on a straight foot, the interior moulded with a five-fold floral medallion, encircled by shaped panels variously depicting figures from Pipa Ji [Tale of the Pipa], each dressed in official attire and identified by their inscribed official titles, divided by narrow panels enclosing latticed fences and furniture, all below a key-fret band repeated on the exterior rim, densely covered in an opaque sea-green glaze, the base with an unglazed ring revealing the buff-orange body; 18 cm, 7 1/8  in.

Provenance: Collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-80).
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1960 (£132).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1961 (£185).

Note: This bowl is decorated to the interior with characters from the 14th-century drama Pipa ji [Tale of the Pipa] by the scholar Gao Ming (c. 1305-1370), which recounts the story of the scholar Cai Yong, zi Bojie, and his wife Zhao Wuniang. Each character is identified through an inscription, with Cai Yong depicted riding a mule with attendants, while his wife plays the flute. This drama was particularly acclaimed by the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-98), who is said to have ordered his actors to perform it daily.

A bowl of this type in the Baur collection is illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva. Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. 1, pl. A 113; another from the collection of George Eumorfopoulos and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection of the Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1925-8, vol. 2, pl. XXXIV, no. B132; and two bowls from the Carl Kempe collection were sold in our London rooms, 14th May 2008, lot 333 and 334, the former also published in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 142.