Lot 258. A rare blue and white dish, Ming dynasty, 15th century, 13 in. (33 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 10,000 - GBP 15,000. Price realised GBP 15,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Painted to the interior with a peacock standing on rocks below a large peony bloom surrounded by leafy branches, the cavetto with large blooms borne on leafy scrolls, repeated on the exterior. 

Note: Compare a similar blue and white dish painted with a peacock in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, A Complete Catalogue II, Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains, London, 1986, p. 568, no. 748. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London