Lot 268. A rare iron-red ground and blue and white bowl, 17th century Diameter 6 in., 15.3 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Lot sold 7,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

well-painted on the exterior in underglaze blue with flowers of the four seasons - peony, lotus, chrysanthemum and plum - enclosed by plain lines all enclosed in iron-red, the interior with a center medallion of a single peony blossom on an iron-red ground encircled by double lines, repeated at the rim, the white glazed recessed base with a apocryphal Jiajing mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Note: There are very few examples of this palette known. A bowl painted with flowers and shou characters and bearing a Shen De Tang Bo Gu Zhi mark and dated to the 16th / 17th century was sold at Christie's New York, 29th March 2006, lot 100 and a stembowl of this type dated to the Wanli period in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London is illustrated in Rose Kerr and Rosemary Scott, Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, London, 1994, p. 21, cat. 31.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Works of Art, New York, 17 march 2015, 02:00 PM