Lot 3846. An extremely rare blue and white 'fruit' bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 19.7 cm. Lot Sold 3,600,000 HKD (Estimate 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 12th December 1978, lot 382.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 13th November 1990, lot 127.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 26th October 1993, lot 48.

Literature : Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics , vol. 4: Ming Official Wares , Taipei, 1991, p. 64 left.

Note: This bowl is a classic example of blue-and-white porcelain from the early Ming dynasty. It features a lush fruit pattern, one of the most popular motifs of early Ming (1368-1644) blue and white which appears equally on other shapes of the period. Similar bowls, however, are very rare. In the Palace Museum, Beijing, is a bowl from the Qing court collection of nearly identical form, size and decoration (fig.1), illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I) , Shanghai, 2000, pl. 69, and probably the same bowl again in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. 1, cat. no. 76.

fig. 1. A blue and white 'fruit' bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period, Qing court collection. Courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing

Two blue and white bowls of this pattern from the Yongle period (1403-24) are recorded in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine , Washington, 1956, together with a white bowl incised with same branches of fruit and of the same form. He illustrates the carved white bowl pl. 113, no. 29.716, and one of the blue and white bowls pl. 49, no. 29.340; the second blue and white bowl, no. 29.339, is illustrated in Mehdi Bahrami, ' Chinese Porcelains from Ardabil in the Teheran Museum', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society , vol. 25, 1949-1950, pl. 1d; and different views of both bowls are illustrated in Takatoshi Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, Topkapi and Ardebil , vol. 3, The Ardebil Shrine Collections , Hong Kong, 1981, no. A 62. Compare also a larger bowl of this form of the Yongle period, painted with more widely spaced branches of fruit and with additional decoration on the interior , in Lu Minghua, Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections: Ming Imperial Porcelain , Shanghai, 2007, pl. 1-9, also illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red: Elegant Decoration on Porcelain of Yuan, Ming and Qing , Hong Kong , 1993, pl. 47.

Related examples include Yongle period blue and white bowls of the same form, with similar fruit sprays on the interior and floral scrolls on the exterior, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, op.cit ., pls 62 and 63. Compare also Xuande mark and period (1426-35) bowls of different forms, but with similar fruit sprays on the exterior, ibid., pls 144 and 151.

This bowl is a classic of the early Ming Dynasty. It is rich in auspicious fruit patterns and is often seen on blue and white porcelain in the early Ming Dynasty. It is also seen in other types of vessels from the same period. However, the pier bowl is very rare. There is an example in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. It was originally collected by the Qing Palace. Its shape and size are similar to this. The illustration is published in "The Complete Collection of Treasures of Cultural Relics from the Palace Museum." Blue and White Underglaze Red (Part 1)", Shanghai, 2000, plate 69 ( Fig. 1 ), or may be found in Geng Baochang's "Blue and White Porcelain from the Early Ming Dynasty in the Palace Museum Collection", Beijing, 2002, Volume 1, No. 76.

According to John Alexander Pope, there are two other examples of Yongle blue and white bowls with similar decoration. One of them (no. 29.340) is published in "Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine", Washington, 1956, plate 49. Also recorded in the same volume is an example of a white-glazed bowl, decorated with dark flowers and auspicious fruits, with the same pattern, Plate 113, No. 29.716. Another blue and white bowl (No. 29.339) is recorded in Mehdi Bahrami, "Chinese Porcelains from Ardabil in the Teheran Museum", Journal of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Vol. 25, 1949-50, Plate 1d. The two blue and white bowls are both recorded in Misugi Takatoshi, "Chinese Porcelain in the Middle and Near East", Volume 3, Hong Kong, 1981, No. A62, the picture angle is slightly different. We can also compare this example with the same shape, slightly larger size, wider and sparse branches, flower and fruit patterns, and decorative patterns on the inner wall, as described in Lu Minghua, "Shanghai Museum Collection Research Series: Official Kiln Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty", Shanghai, 2007, Figure Plate 1-9, also recorded in Wang Qingzheng, "Blue and White Underglaze Red", Hong Kong, 1993, plate 47.

In addition, there are two examples for reference. The shape of the vessel is the same, the outer wall is decorated with entangled branches, and the inner wall is decorated with folded branches and fruit patterns similar to the present one. They are listed in "The Complete Collection of Treasures of Cultural Relics from the Palace Museum", supra, plates 62 and 63. There is also a second example from the Xuande Department, with similar decoration on the outer wall, but a slightly different shape, plates 144 and 155.