Footed bowl. China, Yuan dynasty, beginning of the fourteenth century. Porcelain covered with blue glaze, Quin´bai. H. 10; Diam. 9.5 cm. Inv. no. 2372. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian © 2008 Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Bowl with double walls with four foliate panels where holy personages from the Taoist religion stand out in relief under bamboo leaves, framed by a fine rope of pearls that accentuates the lobed edge and is repeated in the interior. Partially translucid, it is covered with bluish glaze, described by the term qingbai (literally “blue-white”) and more recently, yingqing (“shadow-blue”). 

The piece comes from the kilns at Jingdezhen, that with the introduction of underglaze cobalt blue painting became the most outstanding centre for the manufacture of Chinese porcelain, a distinction that it has maintained to the present day.

Provenance: Henry Brown Esq.; his sale, Sotheby's, London, March 25, 1947 (no. 21), bought through M. Knoedler & Co., Ltd.

Bibliography: Lisbon 2001
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum – Album, Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2001, p. 74, no. 52, colourpl. 

New York 1999
“Only the Best”. Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, exhibition catalogue, Katharine Baetjer e James David Draper (eds.) – New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1999, p. 28, no. 10, colourpl. 

Jenyns 1953
Soame Jenyns – Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, p. 23, pl. 3A