Lot 1385. A fine early Ming blue and white foliate-rim dish, Yongle period (1426-1435); 15 1/8 in. (38.3cm. ) diam. Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,680,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2006.

Finely moulded with shallow lobed sides rising to an everted rim with twelve lotus petal lobes, painted in rich violet blue tones with extensive 'heaping and piling' on the central medallion with a conforming bracket-lobed outline enclosing a composite floral scroll with a central peony surrounded by lotus, hibiscus and camellia blossoms, buds and leaves, the slightly fluted sides with sprays of peony, lotus, camellia, morning glory and chrysanthemum, repeated on the exterior, the gently everted foliate rim encircled by a continuous lingzhi meander,box.

Provenance: A Japanese Private Collection.

Note: Several dishes of this rare pattern have been published. Cf. the examples included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, pl 19; and another illustrated by Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, pl. 35, nos. 29.106, and 29.109. An example in the Nakamura Kinen Bijutsukan is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, no. 762.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 30 May 2006