A superb white-glazed anhua-decorated 'Flower' bowl, Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period. Photo: Sotheby's.

elegantly potted with deep rounded sides rising steeply from a slightly tapered foot, the exterior faintly incised with a row of elongated lotus petals between a band of key-fret at the rim and a 'classic' scroll encircling the foot, the interior finely decorated inanhua with alternating sprigs of chrysanthemum and camellia below a border of crested waves, applied overall with an even 'sweet white' tianbai glaze slightly tinged to a subtle light blue tone, the pointed base glazed and the footring left unglazed revealing a smooth white biscuit; 20.7 cm., 8 1/8  in. Estimation 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 HKD (150,896 - 201,194 EUR)

This elegantly formed bowl is finely decorated in the subtle anhua technique, a technique that is particular to the early Ming period where the designs appear to have been impressed into a thin layer of slip under the glaze. This faint shadow was often only visible when held against the light. Such decorative innovations were only possible with the significant developments in porcelain production during the Yongle period and can be seen in the refinement of white wares to result in smooth, creamy and semi-translucent vessels.

A closely related bowl from Eumorfopoulos collection was sold in our London rooms, 30th May 1940, lot 312; another from the collections of M.C. Wang, Edward T. Chow and Mathias Komor was sold at Christie’s New York, 16th October 2001, lot 132; and a third example was sold in these rooms, 5th November 1997, lot 1370.

The incised and moulded decoration derives from blue and white porcelain of the same period, such as a bowl in the Eli Lilly collection, now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, included in the exhibition, Ming Porcelains. A Retrospective, China Institute in America, New York, 1971, cat. no. 5. 

Sotheby's. Important Ming Porcelain from a Private Collection. Hong Kong | 08 oct. 2013. http://www.sothebys.com