Lot 1640. A yellow-glazed dish, Jiajing six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1522-1566); 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 25,000 - USD 35,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019 

The dish is potted with a slightly everted rim and covered overall with a rich, yellow glaze. 

Note: Monochrome yellow glazes were typically used to decorate dishes and bowls in the late fifteenth-sixteenth centuries. Although certain shades of yellow glaze were used on wares reserved for the sole use of the Imperial court, it appears that some yellow-glazed wares also found their way abroad, probably as diplomatic gifts. John Alexander Pope mentions in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, p. 151, that there are sixteen monochrome yellow-glazed wares amongst the Chinese porcelains dedicated to the Ardebil Shrine by Shah Abbas in 1611. These sixteen pieces date to the Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing and Wanli periods. 

A slightly larger yellow-glazed dish with Jiajing mark and of the period was sold at Christie’s London, 6 November 2018, lot 98. 

For a related handled tray in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, which is slightly smaller than the present example (16.8 cm. wide), and decorated with figures in a landscape, see S. Little, Chinese Ceramics of the Transitional Period: 1620-1683, Dartmouth, 1983, p. 49, no. 11, where the author also cites similar examples illustrated by M. Kawahara, Ko-sometsuke, vol. 2, Kyoto, 1977, pls. 351-364. 

Another handled tray, decorated with a landscape scene, is illustrated by R. Fujioka and G. Hasebe, Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Shogakukan, Tokyo, 1976, p. 281, fig. 163. Compare, also, a shallow bowl loosely decorated with two prancing horses, illustrated by Sir M. Butler, M. Medley and S. Little, Seventeenth Century Chinese Porcelain from the Butler Family Collection, Alexandria, 1990, p. 52, no. 14.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 22 March 2019