A yellow-ground 'shou' square bowl mark and period of Jiajing

well potted of square section, the deep rounded side supported by a slightly tapered foot and rising to a flared mouth, the decoration painted in dark tones of underglaze-blue to the exterior on each side with a scaly five-clawed dragon writhing amid dense scrolling lingzhi fungus stems, all between double line borders at the rim and foot, the interior with a central shou character enclosed within a double square in the well, the rim decorated with a classic scroll band, all against a rich yellow ground, the base reserved in white and inscribed with the six-character mark in underglaze-blue

A bowl of this type is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 197; the companion bowl from the Oppenheim collection is published in R.L. Hobson, Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections, London, 1931, fig. 133; and two bowls of this design, in the Percival David Foundation, are listed in the Foundation’s Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares, London, 1966, cat.nos. 724 and 725, the latter sold in our London rooms, 15^th October 1968, lot 114.

 

Compare also a blue and white bowl of this type sold in our London rooms, 8/9^th July 1974, lot 224; and a bowl of this form with the decoration similarly executed in underglaze blue on a yellow ground but with the motif of the ‘Three Friends of Winter' in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 9:87.