A RARE AND SUPERB BLUE AND WHITE BOWL YUAN DYNASTY |

well potted with deep rounded sides supported on a splayed foot and rising to a flaring rim, the exterior boldly painted with a broad band of scrolling lotus above upright petal lappets, similarly decorated to the interior with a central medallion enclosing a fish swimming amongst eelgrass and clover fern, below an undulating foliate scroll band bordering the rim, covered overall in a translucent bluish glaze save for the unglazed foot and base revealing the buff-coloured body

Collection of Sir David Home, Bt (1904-1992).
Sotheby's London, 8th July 1975, lot 128.
The British Rail Pension Fund.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16th May 1989, lot 11.
Christie's Hong Kong, 8th October 1990, lot 417.

Exhibition of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1953, cat. no. 20.
Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 1971-1975, on loan.
Dorchester International Ceramics Fair, London, June 1986, on loan.

The bowl is in very good condition, with only characteristic firing imperfections such as occasional glaze pulls and light fritting along the rim. There are two minor shallow flakes (widest 0.7cm) to the foot.
"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."

This large bowl with its lively depiction of a fish swimming among eelgrass and clover fern is very rare and no other closely related example appears to have been published. Vigorously painted in vibrant washes of cobalt, this motif represents a classic Yuan dynasty design, and one that brims with symbolism. Paintings of fish swimming in ponds became a popular and recognised painting genre in the Song dynasty (960-1279). This theme is inextricably associated with one of the most famous passages of the book Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou (c. 369-c. 286 BC), Daoism’s foremost thinker, where he comments on the pleasures of fishes darting around where they please. Depictions of fish thus became representative of freedom from restraints, a concept that was borrowed by China’s literati. 

While no other closely related bowl appears to be known, a fragment of a bowl of this type painted with a fish was recovered from the Tughlaq palace in Delhi, and illustrated in Ellen S. Smart, ‘Fourteenth Century Chinese Porcelain from a Tughlaq Palace in Delhi', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1975-1977, vol. 41, pl. 90c.

Compare also bowls of this form but painted with other lotus pond motifs, such as a bowl with ducks in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, included in the Museum’s Exhibition of Blue and White Wares in Yüan Dynasty; 14th Century Ching-tê Chên Wares, Osaka, 1985, cat. no. 37; two published in Ye Peilan, Yuandai ciqi [Yuan dynasty porcelain], Beijing, 1998, pls 135 and 136, the latter from the tomb of Madame Ye, wife of Song Shen (d. 1418) and now in the Nanjing Museum; a third sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1987, lot 211; and a further bowl, from the Falk collection, in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, included in the Museum’s exhibition Unearthing China’s Past, Boston, 1973, cat. no. 110.

The motif of fish in water is more commonly found on large dishes, such as one painted with a mandarin fish from the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 2006, no. 635, and sold in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 17; another in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, ed. John Ayers, London, 1986, vol. II, pl. 568; and a third in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, published in Nakazawa Fujio and Hasegawa Shoko, Chūgoku no tōji. Gen Min no seika [Chinese Ceramics. Blue and White in Yuan and Ming Dynasties], Tokyo, 1995, pl. 14. Compare also a very large dish similarly painted with a fish at the centre, and moulded with a floral scroll on the well, from the Jingguantang collection, sold in our New York rooms, 9th December 1987, lot 256, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th April 2002, lot 608.