Lot 2978. A fine and extremely rare Ming blue and white stembowl, Chenghua period (1465-1487). Estimate HKD 4,000,000 - HKD 6,000,000 (USD 520,000 - USD 770,000). Price Realised HKD 3,860,000 (USD 497,847). © Christie's Images Ltd 2011.

With thinly potted rounded sides rising to a flaring mouth rim, resting on an elegantly splayed stem foot decorated with eight simple florettes within double-line borders, the exterior of the bowl finely painted in bright tones to depict an Indian lotus scroll above overlapping triangular plantain leaves, the interior medallion painted with a single peony spray within double circles, the glaze with a soft blue tinge - 6 15/16 in. (17.7 cm.) high, box 

Provenance: Previously sold at Christie's London, 15 July 1981, lot 89
The Robert Chang Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 829 

Literature: A. du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, Oxford, 1984, p. 120, pl. 4 

Exhibited: Christie's London, An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, 1993, Catalogue, p. 42, no. 13

Notes: The design of scrolling lotus is well-known on 'palace bowls' of the Chenghua period, although as a decorative motif on a stembowl the present lot is unique. Compare the closely related painting style with two Chenghua-marked palace bowls, both included in the exhibition, A Legacy of Chenghua, Hong Kong, 1993, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 243, C77; and p. 245, C78. Both bowls are from the late Chenghua stratum, the first is decorated with a lotus scroll of large and small flowers growing from a single outlined stem, in a very similar style to the present stembowl; and the other bowl with lotus flowers joined to a stem depicted by double outlines.