Lot 113. A blue and white porcelain dish, Ming dynasty, China, mid-17th century. Estimate £5,000 – £8,000 ($7,110 - $11,376). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With flaring cusped rim on short foot, the interior with a portrait of two Safavid women set within vegetal bands, the rim with scenes of Chinese labourers and floral sprays including tulips and pomegranates, the exterior with further floral sprays alternating with cusped medallions of scrolling vine, minor hair cracks; 12½in. (31.8cm.) diam.

Note: This dish is remarkable for the combination of both European and Safavid decorative influences. The rim depicts tulips which were often specifically made for the Dutch market. The depiction of two ladies dressed in Safavid robes however is very rare. A comparable dish in the Percival David Collection with almost identical borders and slightly smaller Safavid ladies is dated to the mid-17th century (Margaret Medley, The World’s Great Collections: Oriental Ceramics, Volume 6. Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 194).

Kraak dish depicting two Persian figures, Ming dynasty, about AD1600–1644. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Height: 97 millimetres. Diameter: 457 millimetres. On loan of Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF,C.645. © Trustees of the British Museum

Large porcelain dish of kraak type. Underglaze blue outside with ogival panels containing various flower sprays. Alternating wide and narrow panels with fruit or flower sprays, with two panels with a fisherman carrying a fish on a pole. In the centre, a pair of kneeling figures, possibly Persian, wearing long robes and headdresses with a single feather.

As demand for the court declined, Jingdezhen potters eagerly accepted orders from middle-class customers in China, as well as exporting wares to the Middle East, Europe and Japan. This rare kraak dish is remarkable as it combines two Persian figures perhaps from a Mughul painting with Dutch tulips perhaps copied from a Dutch blue-and-white dish, with traditional Chinese landscapes.

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

NDB: Another dish was amended at Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, October 8, 2013: 

Lot 86: A Ming Export blue and white porcelain Dish depicting seated Safavid figures, made for the Persian market, China, early 17th Century. Estimate: £6,000 - 8,000 / €7,200 - 9,600 / US$ 9,600 - 13,000. Amended at Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, October 8, 2013. Photo Bonhams.

The central medallion depicting two figures within a trailing floral band, the sides with alternating floral and figural panels, the exterior of the rim with further floral panels, fitted with a brass suspension device, old labels; with receipt for purchase from E & J Frankel; 32 cm. diam. 

Provenance: Mechlin Moore Collection; acquired from E & J Frankel, New York 1/6/89.

Exhibited: Sarah Lawrence College Gallery, New York,Women in Oriental Art: Han Dynasty to the Present - 2000 Years of Far Eastern Art, 1986.