A CARVED LONGQUAN CELADON 'LOTUS' CHARGER EARLY MING DYNASTY |

the rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a lipped rim, freely carved to the central interior with a spray of flowering lotus with broad leaves, encircled by an undulating lotus scroll, the exterior similarly decorated with a foliate band, applied overall with a pale sea-green glaze

A slightly larger 15th-century Longquan charger of similar design, but with an everted rim and its exterior undecorated, is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and included in Green: Lonquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 35. Another early Ming charger of comparable size, also from the Qing court collection, with a lotus spray growing from waves in the centre, is exhibited in Longquan of the World: Longquan Celadon and Globalization, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2019, vol. II: State Vessels, cat. no. 130. See two further examples sold in our London rooms, 12th June 1990, lot 202, and 6th December 1994, lot 134.