A FINE BLUE AND WHITE BARBED 'FLOWER SCROLL' DISH MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD

the shallow rounded sides divided into twelve bracket foliations, rising from a short circular tapered foot to a barbed everted rim, beautifully painted in graded shades of cobalt accented with 'heaping and piling', the interior with a central peony surrounded by blooms of camellia, rose, lotus and hibiscus, all wreathed by interlocked meandering stems within a barbed double-line border, further encircled around the sides by detached sprays of peony, chrysanthemum, pomegranate, hibiscus, morning glory and lotus, each repeated twice and paired across the dish, below a border of scrolling ruyi heads within double blue lines at the rim, the exterior painted with similar detached floral sprays within double-line borders, the base and beveled footring left unglazed

Sotheby's London, 6th April 1976, lot 109.
Collection of the Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Sotheby's London, 9th June 2004, lot 19.

Chinese Ceramics in the Toguri Collection, Tokyo, 1988, cat. no. 84.

The overall condition is excellent, except for a few minute burst air bubbles and some occassional surface scratches. The cobalt blue is of a brilliant vivid tone.
"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."

The present dish is a fine example of the technical developments achieved by potters during the early Ming dynasty. Yongle porcelain is generally characterised by the inky cobalt blue, which fired to a dark, deep blue in parts and pale blue in others. The silvery-black and crystal-like separation of the cobalt is known as the 'heaped and piled' effect and the intensity of tones was heightened by the finely-potted white body of the porcelain clay.

One of the most striking decorative innovations of early fifteenth-century wares was the use of separate floral sprays in the cavettos instead of the continuous scroll. The heavy wreath of lotus or peony found on 14th century dishes gave way to a series of delicate and more varied motifs. Two sets of six flower sprays were commonly repeated so that each pair of flowers sat diagonally opposite each other.

A closely related dish in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, was included in the Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1982, cat. no. 37; one in the National Museum of China is published in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu. Ciqi juan, Mingdai, Shanghai, 2007, pl. 20; another in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 3:35; and a fourth example, published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 663, was sold in these rooms, 8th April 2013, lot 20. Three further dishes from the Ardabil Shrine in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, are included in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, D.C., 1956, pl. 35; and a dish in the British Museum is shown next to a related pottery copy from Iznik in Turkey in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Ornament. The Lotus and the Dragon, London, 1984, pl. 163. See also a dish of this type attributed to the Xuande period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci, vol. 1, Beijing, 2002, pl. 134.

Although examples of this exact design have not been recorded from the excavations of the Ming imperial kiln site, similar large dishes of this form, painted with related designs, have come to light in the Yongle stratum of the site; see, for example, the dish included in the exhibition Yongle Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Capital Museum, Beijing, 2007, cat. no. 68.