Lot 64. A blue and white 'Lotus' bowl, Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566), 12 cm, 4 3/4  in. Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's.

the exterior painted in bright cobalt blue with a continuous lotus scroll, the interior with a single lotus spray, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character mark within a double circle.

Note: This elegant bowl is finely painted with soft washes of underglaze blue in a style that echoes the fabled porcelain wares of the celebrated Chenghua reign. For a possible inspiration of this design, compare two bowls recovered from the waste heaps of the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, and included in the exhibition A Legacy of Chenghua, The Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. C71; and a bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum's Special Exhibition of Ch’eng-hua Porcelain Ware, 1465-1487, Taipei, 2003, cat. no. 23.

Bowls of this design are rare, although a bowl painted with in a similar style with the bajixiang and a lotus scroll, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th November 1973, lot 149.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 08 nov. 2017, 11:00 AM