A rare small blue and white 'lotus' dish, Mark and period of Xuande | 明宣德 青花纏枝番蓮紋小盤 《大明宣德年製》款

A Japanese private collection, Tanisho, by repute.

傳日本私人收藏，谷庄

Painted with stylised lotus blooms and curled leaves in vibrant cobalt blue, this charming dish belongs to a rare group of Xuande porcelain. The fancifully rendered lotus, similar to those seen on early Ming Buddhist sculptures, signifies untainted purity.

Although it is rare to find Xuande dishes of this design, there are a few comparable examples. A pair of dishes of the same form and design was formerly in the collections of George Eumorfopoulous and Mrs Alfred Clark, illustrated in Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, Spink & Son Ltd, London, 1974, cat. nos 20-21, one of which sold in our London rooms, 29th May 1940, lot 232, and again in these rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 532. A related dish in the Tapei Palace Museum is illustrated in Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 176; and another from the J.M. Hu Family Collection was sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1995, lot 419. See also an example from the collection of Joseph Lau, sold in these rooms, 29th April 2022, lot 1.

See a slightly larger dish of very similar form and painted decoration, also with a Xuande reign mark and of the period, in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue and white porcelain in the Palace Museum], vol. 2, Beijing, 2002, pl. 129.

此盤青花濃艷，妙繪番蓮，伴飾卷葉，小巧之餘，雅緻悅目。蓮花瓣片曲捲、枝葉華麗，與明初佛教造像上所飾蓮紋相近，應有純潔無瑕之寄語。

宣德御瓷中，此盤式甚罕，但仍有數例可資比較。例如尤莫弗普勒斯（George Eumorfopoulos）、艾弗瑞．克拉克夫人（Mrs Alfred Clark）遞藏對盤，形、飾均與此吻合，收入《Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark》，Spink & Son Ltd，倫敦，1974年，編號20-21，其中一盤於1940年5月29日經倫敦蘇富比售出，編號232，後在2001年10月29日於香港蘇富比易手，編號532。台北故宮也有一例，見《明代宣德官窰精華特展圖錄》，台北，1998年，編號176。再比較兩例，其一為胡惠春家族舊藏，售於紐約蘇富比1995年9月23日，編號419；另一為劉鑾雄舊藏，後售於香港蘇富比2022年4月29日，編號1。

北京故宮博物院藏一相類蓮紋盤，惟尺寸稍大，見《故宮博物院藏明初青花瓷》，卷2，北京，2002年，圖版129。