Lot 4056. A rare early Ming blue and white globular bowl, jingshuiwan, Xuande six-character mark in a line and of the period (1426-1435), 3 3/4 in. (9.7 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,800,000 - HKD 2,500,000. Price realised HKD 2,180,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Well-potted of globular form, the bowl is painted on the rounded sides with a broad band of open blooms including rose, camellia, peony and hibiscus, borne on an undulating stem issuing small leaves, above a band of upright lappets and a band of classic scroll encircling the foot. The interior is painted with a central chrysanthemum roundel; box. 

Provenance: David Lin & Co. 

Literature: Hisashi Takuma, Minsho Toji Zukan, Yusankaku Inc., 1968, Catalogue, no. 11 

Exhibited: The Ceramic Society of Japan, Inaugural Exhibition, Hiroshima, 6 February 1954, no. 14 

Note: Globular bowls of this type were known as pure water bowls, jingshuiwan, and were used in Buddhist rituals as vessels containing sacred water used to purify the heart.

A number of examples exist in private and museum collections including one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 60-61; and another is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 636. 

Compare also an example from the Percival David Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2007, lot 1351, and another from the E.T. Chow Collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 402. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall