Un imposant plat blanc à décor incisé anhua - Dynastie Ming, marque et époque Xuande (1426-1435)

A fine and large anhua circular dish, Ming dynasty, mark and period of Xuande.

circulaire, les bords relevés haut avec un médaillon central finement incisé à décor « caché» anhua d'un bouquet aquatique de lotus et sagittaria liés par un ruban, la base non émaillée laissant apparaître l'oxydation orangée du biscuit à la cuisson, marque en kaishu Xuande à six caractères en bleu sous couverte à l'extérieur sur le rebord. diam. 34.5cm, 13 5/8 in. Estimé: 80,000—120,000 EUR

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 680.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures, a Selection from the Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including The Carl Kempe Collection. The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, p. 265 no. 871.

CATALOGUE NOTE: A carved lotus bouquet dish of this size, with a Xuande reign mark and of the period, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 13^th November 1990, lot 124, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 3^rd November 1996, lot 556, from the Jingguantang collection. See another closely related dish from a private collection in Japan illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 8; and one in the Idemitsu Collection included in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 161, also incised with classic scroll around the rim. In Chinese Porcelain from the Addis Collection, London, 1979, p. 36, Addis records the present dish together with two other marked examples, one in the Ataka collection and the other formerly in the Cunliffe Collection. Addis discusses, ibid., pp. 34-37, this small group of large early fifteenth century carved white dishes with unglazed bases, usually incised with one of the floral designs found on contemporary blue and white wares, and notes that several examples are found in the Ardebil Shrine collection. He records only one pattern, the lotus bouquet, which is sometimes found with a Xuande reign mark in underglaze-blue below the rim, the other designs all unmarked, although one saucer dish carved with lotus scroll and with the same Xuande reign mark, now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is illustrated in Jan Wirgin, Chinese Ceramics from the Axel and Nora Lundgren Bequest, Stockholm, 1978, pl. 35, no. 37. This mark is also found on plain white dishes of comparable size, such as the dish from the Edward T. Chow collection sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19^th May 1981, lot 458. For the blue-and-white counterpart of the present dish compare one from the Ardebil Shrine illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 31, no. 29.21.

The present design is also found on unmarked Yongle dishes, varying slightly in size; one, from the collections of F. W. J. Scovil and Edward T. Chow, with a key fret border around the rim, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17^th May 1988, lot 37; and another was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition In Pursuit of Antiquities, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 170, cat. no. 122.

Sotheby's Paris. From Neolithic to Qing, Chinese Ceramics from Two Private Collections from two European collections. 12 Juin 2008