Lot 48. A rare doucai bowl, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619). Estimate HKD 500,000 — 700,000 (56,446 - 79,024 EUR). Lot Sold 2,240,000 HKD (252,877 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

with deep rounded sides rising from a gently tapered foot to a flared rim, painted to the interior with a central medallion enclosing leafy tendrils wreathed around a floral bloom formed from iron-red stamens enclosed within turquoise trefoil leaves, all encircled by double-line borders repeated at the rim, the exterior decorated with similar floral blooms borne on an undulating foliate scroll above a ruyi band, the rim bordered by a foliate chevron border, inscribed to the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle - 16.9 cm, 6 5/8  in.

Provenance: Kochukyo & Co., Tokyo, 1966.
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1966 (£210).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1966 (£500).

Note: Elegantly painted with a rhythmic floral scroll, the design of this bowl represents a development of Chenghua (1465-87) prototypes. The Wanli Emperor (r. 1573-1620) is known to have been passionately fond of Chenghua doucai wares, thus their value and appreciation grew under his reign. For a possible inspiration of this design, see a zhadou decorated with similar flowers with long stamens painted in underglaze blue, in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., included in the Museum’s exhibition Ming Porcelain in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1953, cat. no. 23.

Bowls of this type are very rare; a closely related example, from the collections of H.M. Knight and T.Y. Chao, included in theExhibition of Ming and Ch’ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1978, cat. no. 40, was sold three times in our London rooms, 1970, 1976, and most recently, 13th November 2002, lot 113. A similar design is also found on a blue-and-white dish with a Wanli mark and of the period, from the Raymond F.A. Riesco collection, illustrated in Edgar E. Bluett, The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. 52; and on an unmarked zhadou painted in doucai enamels, sold at Christie’s London, 10th December 1990, lot 151, attributed to the Zhengde reign (1506-21).

This design later appeared on porcelains of the Yongzheng period, as seen on a bowl sold in our London rooms, 12th December 1989, lot 467, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 23rd March 1993, lot 810; and a dish with an apocryphal Chenghua mark, illustrated in A.D. Brankston, Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen, Beijing, 1938, pl. 45 (top right).