AN OUTSTANDING UNDERGLAZE-RED 'CHRYSANTHEMUM' DISH MING DYNASTY, HONGWU PERIOD

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS ARE REQUESTED TO COMPLETE THE PREMIUM LOT PRE-REGISTRATION 3 WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE SALE. BIDnow ONLINE BIDDING SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE.



 



the thick curved foliate walls rising to an everted rim with sixteen corresponding barbed bracket foliations, all supported on a low circular tapered foot, painted on the interior in a light copper red transmuting from strawberry to puce, with a chrysanthemum spray with four large blooms among evenly spaced foliage and buds in the centre, surrounded by formal lotus sprays on the cavetto, the blooms alternately closed and opened revealing the stamens, all encircled on the rim with a stylised border of crested waves, the exterior repeated with further lotus sprays and waves, all beneath a transparent glaze, with the unglazed base covered with an iron-red wash

Collection of Montague Meyer.
Christie's London, 14th April 1980, lot 381.
The Manno Art Museum, Osaka (no. 439).
Christie's Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 525.

Chūgoku no tōji/Special Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 239 (illustrated).

Selected Masterpieces of the Manno Collection, Osaka, 1988, pl. 104.
Hasebe Gakuji and Imai Atsushi, Chūgoku no tōji. Nihon shutsudo no Chūgoku tōji /Chinese Ceramics. Chinese Ceramics Excavated in Japan, Tokyo, 1995, p. 121, fig. 47.
Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1626.

The overall condition is very good with some expected fritting to the rim, rim chips, firing cracks to the centre of the dish. The glaze has a few minor pin holes. The copper-red has fired to grey. The glaze is thick and milky. The iron-red on the foot is a bright orange than the catalogue illustration. The exterior is a deeper red than the interior.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Massive dishes of this type, painted with the difficult-to-control underglaze copper-red pigment, are among the triumphs of the early Ming potters. This dish represents one of the rare successful specimen of a production period that experienced many unsatisfactory results. Only five other red-painted dishes of comparable size have ever been offered at auction.

The three design elements combined on this dish, chrysanthemums, lotus and waves, are characteristic of porcelains of the Hongwu period, and yet are rarely seen in this combination on a large dish. A very similar dish with three chrysanthemums only in the centre, in the Guangdong Provincial Museum, Guangzhou, was included in the exhibition National Treasures. Gems of China's Cultural Relics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1997-8, cat. no. 129. A dish of this form and design but with peonies in the centre, in the Shanghai Museum, is published in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 3-5.

Several related dishes are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see in particular The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai 2000, vol. 1, pl. 21: a blue and white example of very similar design; pl. 212: a circular dish painted in red with similar chrysanthemums but a peony scroll round the well; and pls 216-9: barbed red-painted dishes with similar lotus sprays but peonies in the centre, two of them with similar waves. Related fragmentary dishes were also recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, compare the exhibition catalogue Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 29, with peonies in the centre, and cat. no. 28, a circular blue and white example with similar chrysanthemums.