AN UNUSUAL BLUE AND WHITE ‘FLOWER’ BOWL MARK AND PERIOD OF WANLI

well potted with wide, gently rounded sides rising from a short straight foot, the exterior painted with a band of alternating lotus and musk mallow blooms amid dense scrolling foliage, set between bands of stylised crested waves at the rim and foot, the interior decorated with a central medallion enclosing crested rolling waves within a triple-line border, the rim encircled by a similarly decorated floral meander to that on the exterior bearing alternating lotus and mallow blooms, all between double-line borders, the base inscribed with the six-character mark in underglaze-blue within a double circle   

A similar bowl was sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 643. 

A Xuande prototype to this piece from the collection of Mr. F. Gordon Morrill was exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1972, No. 138.   See another Xuande prototype, in the Palace Museum collection, Taipei, published in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hs'uan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat.no. 64.