A RARE BROWN-DECORATED 'GARDENIA' DISH MARK AND PERIOD OF ZHENGDE

with rounded sides and a flared rim rising from a tapering foot, the interior decorated in iron-brown glaze with a gardenia spray bearing two blooms and two buds, the cavetto painted with sprays of grape vine, lotus, pomegranate and crab apple, the exterior with a continuous rose scroll, all with details picked out in carefully incised lines and set against the transparent glaze, the slightly convex base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double ring

Christie's New York, 3rd December 1992, lot 277.

Evolution to Perfection. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection/ Evolution vers la perfection. Céramiques de Chine de la Collection Meiyintang, Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo, 1996, cat. no. 125.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 681.

There is a clean diagonal break across the dish from 1 o'clock to 7 o'clock. There is some minor retouching to consolidated chips on the rim.
"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."

No other dish of this design and colour scheme has ever been offered at auction, but similar Zhengde (AD 1506-21) examples are in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Minji meihin zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains], Tokyo, 1977-8, vol. II, pl. 100; in the Yamato Bunkakan, Nara, illustrated in Yamato Bunkakan shozōhin zuhan mokuroku 7: Chūgoku tōji / Chinese Ceramics from the Museum Yamato Bunkakan Collection, Illustrated Catalogue Series no. 7, Nara, 1977, no. 137; in the Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen, published in Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, London, 1978, pl. 90; and in the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, see Barbara Harrisson, Keramiek uit Azie, Leeuwarden, 1985, no. 54.

This design, which is also known in blue-and-white and blue-and-yellow versions, was since the Xuande period (AD 1426-35), also executed in iron brown. Two brown-decorated dishes of this pattern of Xuande mark and period, one with designs in dark brown, the other in a paler café-au-lait tone, are illustrated in Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/ Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. nos. 194 and 195.

A rare brown-decorated prototype of this design of Hongzhi mark and period (AD 1488-1505) is in the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. VI, col. pl. 36; and a similar fragmentary Hongzhi dish from the imperial kiln site is illustrated in Jingdezhen chutu Mingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Ming imperial kilns excavated at Jingdezhen], Beijing, 2009, pl. 105.