A FINE BLUE AND WHITE 'FLORAL' BARBED CHARGER MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD | 明永樂 青花花卉紋菱口折沿盤

The present dish is a fine example of the technical developments achieved by potters during the early Ming dynasty. One of the most striking decorative innovations of early 15th 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, Taipei, 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/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China, Ciqi juan: Mingdai [Porcelain section: Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 20; another in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, 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 in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Pleasingly Pure and Lustrous: Porcelains from the Yongle Reign of the Ming Dynasty. Guidebook, Taipei, 2017, pp. 70-71. 

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.

此永樂青花盤雅致流麗，乃明初瓷匠技術發展成就之佳證。十四世紀，花繁枝盛之牡丹或蓮紋甚風行，但至十五世紀初，較細緻且富變化的折枝花卉代替纏枝花卉作為內壁圖案，化繁為簡，乃瓷藝紋飾發展史上的一大創新。盤內壁紋飾，一般以六折枝花卉為一組，重複一回共繪兩組，是以相同的花卉一般落在對角兩端。 台北故宮博物院藏一相類作例，曾展於《明代初年瓷器特展》，故宮博物院，台北，1982年，編號37。另一例存於中國國家博物館，載於《中國國家博物館館藏文物研究叢書：瓷器卷（明代）》，上海，2007年，圖版20。倫敦大英博物館亦有一例，刊錄於霍吉淑，《Ming Ceramics in the British Museum》，倫敦，2001年，圖版3:35。第四例則見於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國瓷器》，卷2，倫敦，1994年，圖版663，2013年4月8日於香港蘇富比售出，編號20。另有三例出自阿德比爾寺，現存德黑蘭伊朗國家博物館，刊錄於 John Alexander Pope，《Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine》，華盛頓，1956年，圖版35。大英博物館藏例，與一土耳其伊茲尼克仿造之陶盤，同錄於羅森，《Chinese Ornament. The Lotus and the Dragon》，倫敦，1984年，圖版163。也可參考故宮舊藏，如台北故宮博物院藏例，圖見於《適於心—明代永樂皇帝的瓷器》，台北，2017年，頁70-71。

明官窰遺址雖尚未出土相同紋飾之瓷盤，但永樂朝地層有出土同類大盤，上繪圖案與此亦近，如《景德鎮珠山出土永樂官窰瓷器》，首都博物館，北京，2007年，編號68。