Lot 5085. A Longquan celadon moulded 'lotus' dish, Early Ming dynasty; 19.8 cm, 7 3/4  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Sold for 375,000 HKD (44,370 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

the rounded sides rising from a short foot, moulded to the centre of the interior with a single stylised lotus spray, surrounded by a band of lotus blooms on the well beneath a band of classic floral scroll at the rim, repeated on the exterior above a band of key-fret around the foot, covered overall with an olive-green glaze with the exception of an unglazed ring on the base burnt orange in the firing.

Provenance: Collection of John R. Menke (1919-2009), Missouri and New York.
Sotheby's New York, 18th/19th March 2014, lot 220.

Note: During the early Ming period, the Longquan kilns appear to have worked closely with the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, thus making wares of similar form and decoration, perhaps under imperial instruction. Stylised lotus blooms such as those seen on the present dish can be found on contemporary blue and white porcelain wares, such as a closely related Xuande bowl in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Hsüan-te Ware I, Taipei, 2000, pl. 77.