Lot 27. A rare large blue and white 'floral scroll' dish, Yongle period (1403-1425); 40.5cm (16in) diam. Estimate HK$ 2.5 million - 4 million (€290,000 - 460,000). Sold for HK$ 3,880,000 (€ 460,698). Photo: Bonhams.

With rounded sides supported on a tapered low foot rising to a slightly flaring rim, the interior exquisitely decorated with a central medallion enclosing interlocking floral scrolls bearing camellia and peony blossoms and buds, encircled with a composite floral scroll bearing eleven evenly-spaced flowers, the rim with a band of braking and crashing waves, the exterior similarly painted with a composite floral scroll. 

Provenance: Henry M. Knight Collection (d.1971)
A European private collection

Exhibited: Groninger Museum, Groningen, on loan circa 1995-2005

Note: The present lot is one of a group of dishes produced with composite floral scrolls, which can be dated to the Yongle period: one example was excavated from the Yongle strata at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in 1994 and published by the Chang Foundation, Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996, p.152, no.44. 

Large serving dishes of broad, flat form were developed during the Yuan period, and their production continued in the early Ming. They appealed not only to the domestic Chinese market, but were also exported to the Middle East. The international demand for such pieces brought the financial benefits of trade and also established the Yongle emperor's authority and status as the legitimate ruler of China. The elegant scrolling blue and white painting style became an inspiration for many potters locally and in foreign lands, with the result that such dishes have been described as 'the world's first truly global product': see C.Clunas and J.Harrison-Hall, Ming: 50 Years That Changed China, London, 2014, p.289, fig.257.

Such dishes with vivid painted cobalt blue under a clear glaze were popular and revered during the Yuan and Ming periods, with extensive examples preserved in royal collections of the Safavids in Iran, Mughals in India and the Ottomans in Turkey. See an example with inscribed devanagari inscription at the base indicating the name of the Emperor Shah Jahan, correspondingly dated to 1632, published by P.Hardie, 'China's Ceramic Trade with India',Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1983-84, vol.48, p.19, pls.3 and 4; and also see another dish dated to the early 15th century in the Archaeological Museum, Tehran, illustrated by J.A.Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Cambridge, 1981, pl.34, no.29.88.

Other examples can be found in important museum collections: see one such dish, early 15th century, illustrated by J.Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Vol.I, Geneva, 1999, p.112, no.61; a similar example, early 15th century, in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art is described by M.Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains, London, 1976, no.A663; see also another dish of identical size and design, illustrated by M.Blackwelder and J.E.Vollmer, At the Edge of the Sky. Asian Art in the Collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, 2009, pp.92-93, pl.35; and another very similar example is in the Art Institute of Chicago, museum ref.1954.463.

For comparable examples of such dishes in important private collections: see J.Mayuyama, Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Vol.1, Tokyo, 1976, no.756; and also another illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.II, pp.52 and 53, no.664. Compare also another in the T.Y.Chao collection, illustrated in Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y.Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong, 1978, no.5

A similar dish sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 3152

BONHAMS. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 4 Jun 2015 10:30 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY