Lot 3130. A fine large 'lianzi' white-glazed bowl.  Mark and period of Xuande. Estimation  1,500,000-2,000,000 HKD. Unsold. photo Sotheby's

well potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short slightly tapered foot, the exterior faintly incised with two rows of elongated lotus petals below a frieze of turbulent crested waves, the interior incised with a central medallion of two leafy pomegranates within double circles under a register of key-fret at the rim, applied overall with an even white glaze tinged to a subtle light blue tone, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with the sixcharacter reign mark within double circles; 20.8 cm., 8 1/8 in. 

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2009, lot 1625.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Lianzi bowls of this type derive from one of the finest early Ming blue-and-white wares produced at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. The delicately incised decorations of the present bowl closely follow that of their underglaze blue ounterparts. Pieces such as the present bowl demanded the utmost skill of the craftsman in order to capture the ethereal purity of the form and glaze that would enable it to be suitable for ritual ceremonies. 

A closely related bowl from the Carl Kempe collection, illustrated in Bo Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 676, was sold in our Paris rooms, 12th June 2008, lot 44. 

The Xuande lianzi bowl is based on the Yongle bowl of the same proportions. Compare a Yongle bowl, also from the Carl Kempe collection, but with a single tier of lotus petals, published ibid., pl. 686, and later sold in our Paris rooms, 12th June 2008, lot 40; and another from the Donald S. Morrison collection, sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1982, lot 214, and sold in these rooms, 17th May 1988, lot 36

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. Hong Kong | 04 avr. 2012