Lot 3267. A rare Ge-type mallow-form dish, Yuan-early Ming Dynasty, 13th-15th century; 5 ¾ in. (14.7 cm.) diam. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Price Realized $43,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The dish has gently out-curved sides and subtle ribs on the interior that rise to each notch in the hexalobed, metal band-mounted rim, and is covered overall with a warm, grey glaze suffused with a dense network of black crackle ('iron wire') interspersed with light brown crackle ('golden thread') that falls in a neat line above the neatly cut foot which is covered with a black dressing, box. 

Provenance: Edgar Bromberger Collection; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 3-4 January 1950, lot 120.
Christie's New York, 26 March 2003, lot 232.

Literature: Chinese Ceramics, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1944, B76.

Exhibited: Long term loan: The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, 1940 - 1949.
Chinese Ceramics, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, 1944.

Note: Ge ware, along with Ru ware, Ding ware, Guan ware and Jun ware, is regarded as one of the 'Five Great Wares of the Song dynasty. These wares continued to be not only revered into the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also to be an inspiration.

The shape and glaze of the present dish were clearly inspired by Song dynasty prototypes, and a number of these Song foliate-form dishes, described as having a mallow-petal mouth, are in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 33 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, nos. 83, 84, 85, 90, and 91. Of the illustrated dishes, no. 90 has a metal-mounted rim, but none has as dense a crackle pattern in the glaze as the present dish.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza