CHRISTIE'S. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, 10 November 2015, London, King Street
A large rare early Ming blue and white 'peony' dish, Yongle period (1403-1425)
Lot 324. A large rare early Ming blue and white 'peony' dish, Yongle period (1403-1425); 14 ¾ in. (37.5 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 50,000 - GBP 80,000. Price realised GBP 74,500. © Christie’s Images Limited 2015.
The dish is finely painted in bright sapphire-blue tones with two peony blooms growing from a curled branch bearing leaves and buds, surrounded on the cavetto with seven peony blooms and on the everted lipped rim with continuous scrolling sprays. The exterior is detailed with a further lotus meander, all within double-line borders. The base is unglazed.
Provenance: Formerly in the Christer Löfgren collection, Sweden.
Note: Dishes of this pattern include one in the Topkapi Saray Museum, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, 1986, no. 598; another in the Archaeological Museum of Iran, Teheran, recorded by A. Pope, Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine, 1956, pl. 32, no. 29.68 ; another from the collection of Gustaf VI Adolf, H.M. The King of Sweden, was included in the exhibition of Ming Blue and White, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1964, no.23, p.39 and is also illustrated by Bo Gyllensvärd in The World's Great Collections, Oriental Ceramics, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Sweden, Vol.8, no.214; another dish of this exact same pattern is illustrated by Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume II, p. 47, no.660.
Very similar dishes but with different pattern on the rim are recorded such as the one from the Qing Court Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 55; and the two dishes included in the Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated From the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1989, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 63, figs. 1 and 2.