Lot 3315. An rare anhua-decorated tianbai-glazed lianzi bowl, Yongle period (1403-1425). Estimate HK$300,000 – HK$500,000 ($38,801 - $64,669). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

The bowl is finely potted with deep rounded sides, incised on the exterior with a leafy composite scroll bearing three chrysanthemum blossoms alternating with mallow and camellia below a keyfret band at the rim. The interior is incised with a chrysanthemum spray enclosed within a double-line roundel below a wide register of moulded lotus petals rising from the centre to a band of moulded waves below the rim, all under an even white glaze. 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm.) diam.

Provenance: Mr and Mrs Denis Barnham 
Bluett & Sons, London, 1954 
Kenneth Robert Malcome (1908-1984), no. 108 (according to label)
Sold at Christie's London, 17 June 2003, lot 18 

Exhibited: Oriental Ceramic Society, London, Monochrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties, 1948. Catalogue, no. 108

Notes: Compare a similar bowl in the Falk Collection illustrated in H. D. Ling and E. T. Chow, Collections of Chinese Ceramics from the Hall of Leisurely Pastime, in two volumes, Hong Kong, 1950, vol. 11, no. 86, pp. 64-5, and in M. Komor,Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, New York, 1951, no. 23, subsequently sold at Christie's New York, 20th September 2001, lot 133. Compare also the similar bowl exhibited at the Exhibition of Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1977, subsequently sold at Sotheby's London, 15th April 1980, lot 267; and one from the Clark Collection, included in the London Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition, The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, 1957, Catalogue no. 9, and later sold at Sotheby's London, 26th June 1973, lot 247. 

Christie's. THE IMPERIAL SALE / IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, 1 June 2016, Convention Hall