Lot 3608. A rare anhua-decorated blue and white 'Herbaceous peony' bowl, mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435); 20.6 cm, 8 1/8 in. Estimate: 4,000,000-6,000,000 HKD (509,560 - 764,340 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.
of conical form, the flaring sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, boldly painted in rich cobalt-blue tones to the exterior with large herbaceous peony blooms borne on a leafy meander, above pointed upright lappets, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a floral rosette within double lines repeated at the rim, further decorated to the cavetto in the anhua technique depicting a leafy meander of flowering peonies, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.
Note: This bowl is distinctive for its elegant shape and harmonious floral decoration which has been designed for a pure Chinese aesthetic and rendered in an intense cobalt blue. For examples of Xuande marked bowls of this pattern similarly adorned with anhua slip decorated floral scrolls on the interior, see one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 61; and one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Gugong Bowuguan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace Museum], vol. 2, Beijing, 2002, pl. 142. See also a bowl sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 217 and another from the Edward T. Chow and Mr and Mrs Myron Falk collections,
A rare blue and white anhua-decorated conical 'Herbaceous Peony' bowl, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435); 20.4 cm., 8 in. Sold for 2,320,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2013, lot 217. Courtesy Sotheby's
Formely the Edward T. Chow collection & Mr. and Mrs. Myron Falk collection (no. 247). A Fine Anhua-Decorated Blue and White Conical Bowl, Xuande six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1426-1435); 8in. (20.3cm.) diam. Sold for 358,000 USD at Christie's New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2001
These bowls were inspired by earlier bowls of the Yongle reign, such as one from the Ardebil Shrine and now in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 48, and again in Takatoshi Misugi, Chinese Porcelain Collections of the Near East, Topkapi and Ardebil, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. A60.
This refined design was much admired by the Qianlong Emperor, who ordered precise copies of these Xuande bowls to be made by the imperial kilns. A Xuande bowl of this design was exhibited together with a Qianlong mark and period example, both from the Sir Percival David collection, in the exhibition, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration. Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London, 1992, cat. nos 34 and 168.
Bowl with lotus flowers, Ming dynasty, Xuande mark and period, AD1426–35. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue and anhua decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. 7,6 x 20,8 cm. Percival David Foundation, PDF B636© Trustees of the British Museum.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 03 oct. 2018, 03:00 PM