Note: Xuande lotus bowls of this form and design decorated with two overlapping bands of upright lappets on the exterior are rare, although a similar bowl  was sold in these rooms, 7th October 2006, lot 907,  and another bowl in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 4:27.  Two closely related bowls can be found in the Palace Museum, Beijing, one illustrated in Ming chu qinghua ci, vol. 2, Beijing, 2002, pl. 150, and the other included in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 154. Fragments of a Xuande bowl of this type were recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns and are is illustrated in Yuan 's and Ming's Imperial Porcelains Unearthed from Jingdezhen, Beijing, 1999, pl. 144.

Compare also a bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum. Hsuan-te Ware I, Taipei, 2000, pl. 102; and one in Takushin Kushi, Shina Minsho tojizukan, Tokyo, 1943, pl. 11.  

The pomegranate is the symbol of fertility in China due to the hundreds of seeds found in the fruit. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 09 Oct 2007