Lot 205. A very fine and rare yellow-ground and underglaze-blue decorated dish, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521), 29.3 cm., 11 1/2 in. Estimate 8,000,000 — 12,000,000. Lot sold 15,800,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

well potted with gently rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot to an everted rim, freely painted to the interior in deep and shaded tones of cobalt-blue with a medallion enclosing a single branch of pomegranate issuing two large blooms in profile laden with overlapping layers of petals and three tight buds, the cavetto freely painted with four fruiting sprays laden with dense foliage and weighted with plump fruit including peach, lychee, cherries and persimmon, the underside with four detached sprigs of lotus issuing curled trefoil leaves and a large bloom, all between double-circles and reserved against a brilliant and glossy lemon-yellow ground, the base glazed white and inscribed with a six-character mark within double circles.

Provenance: Collection of Mrs M. Constantinidi (no. 61).
Sotheby's London, 8th July 1947, lot 71.
Bluett and Sons, London (1947).
The Rt. Hon. Rolf Cunliffe, 2nd Baron Cunliffe of Headley (1899-1963)(no. PM83).
Bonham's London, 11th November 2002, lot 75.

Bibliography: Soame Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 59b. 

Note: This Zhengde dish is most remarkable for its deep and brilliant yellow glaze providing a stunning contrast and background for the bold underglaze-blue decoration. Although Zhengde dishes of this form and design can be found in important museums and private collections, the present dish is a fine example of what potters of the Zhengde period were capable of achieving.  

Two Zhengde dishes of this pattern in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are illustrated in Blue and  White  Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book IV, Hong Kong, 1963, pls. 13a-b, and in Minji meihin zuroku, vol. 2, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 98, respectively. In Western museum collections see a similar dish in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, included in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol. 10, 1980, col. pl. 48; and another in John Ayers, Far  Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, pl. 154. 

Plate with underglaze blue decoration of auspicious fruit branches over yellow ground, Chinese, Ming dynasty, Zhengde period (1505–21). Porcelain, Jingdezhen ware, 5.2 x 29.5 cm (2 1/16 x 11 5/8 in.). The John Pickering Lyman Collection—Gift of Miss Theodora Lyman, 19.1016 © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Porcelain dish painted in underglaze blue with yellow glaze, China, Ming dynasty, Zhengde reign period and mark (1506-21), Jingdezhen. Porcelain decorated in underglaze blue and yellow glaze. Diameter: 29.5 cm. Maxwell Brownjohn Bequest, C.50-1965 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017.

Compare also a similar dish published in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 645; and another included in Masterpieces of Chinese and Korean Ceramics in the Ataka Collection, Tokyo, 1980, p. 104, previously sold in our London rooms, 19th January 1960, lot 87, and again, 2nd March 1971, lot 167. 

See also a dish from the British Rail Pension Fund sold in these rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 24; one from the Manno Art Museum, Tokyo, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 530; and one from the Edward T. Chow collection also sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 41.   

Compare the Chenghua prototype of this pattern with reign marks below the rim, from the Edward T. Chow collection, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1957, cat.no. 197, and sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 40.  It is interesting to note that all the dishes of this type painted with flowering pomegranates appear to be of this very large size, whereas those painted with a gardenia are usually smaller, the Zhengde examples usually approximately 20 cm in diameter, with either six or four character reign marks, and the Hongzhi ones slightly bigger, approximately 25 cm in diameter. 

Sotheby's. A Quest for Perfection - Important Chinese Porcelain from a Distinguished Asian Family Hong Kong, 23 oct. 2005