Lot 508. A rare blue and white globular bowl, Xuande mark and period (1426-1435). Estimate 800,000 — 1,200,000 HKD. Lot sold 960,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's 2005.
the globular body potted with generously rounded sides, painted in soft tones of characteristic 'heaped and piled' cobalt-blue with five large peony flower-heads blooming from long winding stems further issuing tight buds and foliage, all above a band of upright lappets and a border of stylised scrolling stems of at the foot, and below a band of scrolling lotus at tapered rim between a double-line border, the six-character mark inscribed in a line at the shoulder.
Note: This small globular bowl is perfectly formed in its ergonomical shape and delicately painted with the vibrant cobalt blue typical of the Xuande period. Bowls of this type were used during Buddhist religious ceremonies and are called qing shui wan which can be translated as 'pure water bowl'. The bowl was filled with water, that symbolized purity, and was carried during the prayers. The small size and rounded shape allowed it to be held comfortably in one's palms.
A small number of similar examples can be found in important museums and private collections. See one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Ming chu qinghua ci, vol.2, Beijing, 2002, pl. 122; one in the National Palace, Taipei, included in Minji meihin zuroku, vol.1, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 51, together with a globular stem bowl of Xuande mark and period that would have been used for the same purpose, pl. 52. Another bowl of this form and design is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 636; and one from the collection of Sir Percival and Lady David, London, was included in the Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat.no. 639.
A bowl of this design without reign mark, also attributed to the Xuande period, is in the British Museum, London, from the collection of Sir John Addis, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 132, pl. 4:22.
Blue and white bowls of very similar shape and painted decoration have been sold at major auctions: such as the piece from the Edward T. Chow collections sold in these rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 402, and again, 3rd May 1994, lot 40; and one from the Fuller collection, sold at Christie's London, 28/29th June 1965, lot 147.
Sotheby's. A Collection of Exceptional Imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 02 may 2005