Lot 4057. A large early Ming blue and white 'Peony' charger, Yongle period (1403-1425), 15 7/8 in. (40.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,076,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The dish is finely painted in bright sapphire-blue tones with two peony blooms growing from a curled branch bearing leaves and buds, surrounded on the cavetto with a continuous lotus scroll and on the everted lipped rim with eight detached fruit and flower sprays. The exterior is detailed with a further lotus meander, all within double-line borders. The base is unglazed, box.

Note: An identical dish was included in the Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated From the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1989, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 63, figs. 1 and 2. The dish found in the early Yongle stratum at the Zhushan Road site, together with another dish with a similar medallion but with different borders.

Dishes of this pattern include two in the Topkapi Saray Museum, illustrated by J. Ayers and R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, 1986, no. 598; another two in the Archaeological Museum of Iran, Teheran, recorded by A. Pope, Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine, 1956, pl. 32, no. 29.65-66; a dish included in the Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, Philadelphia, 1949, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 31; one from the collection of Sir John Addis, now in the British Museum, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 3:33; and another from the Qing Court Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 55. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall