Plat en porcelaine bleu blanc, Chine, dynastie Ming, époque Yongle (1403-1424)

Lot 32. Plat en porcelaine bleu blanc. Chine, dynastie Ming, époque Yongle (1403-1424); diam. 34,3 cm, 13 1/2 in.diam. 34,3 cm, 13 1/2 in. Estimate 80,000—120,000 EUR. Lot Sold 384,750 EUR. photo Sotheby's

circulaire avec un haut rebord doucement incurvé, peint d'un bleu profond caractéristique de la période, à décor central d'un bouquet de lotus et fleurs aquatiques noué par un ruban, entouré de trois cercles concentriques, les bords décorés d'une bande de rinceaux de pivoines, roses, lotus, camélias, hibiscus et grenadiers en fleurs se répétant au revers du plat, la fleur de lys remplaçant le grenadier en fleurs, entre une frise rinceaux et une frise de grecques, le bord intérieur du plat souligné d'une frise de rinceaux, la base non émaillée légèrement rougie à la cuisson.

A blue and white porcelain lotus bouquet dish, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)

Note: Dishes painted with this beautifully composed lotus bouquet motif are amongst the classic wares of the early Ming period. The present example is particularly fine, with the lotus bouquet executed in a more fluid and painterly fashion than many of its companions.

Made for the Yongle court and for the export market, lotus bouquet dishes can be found in different sizes (usually between 27 cm and 43 cm) with slight variation in the main design and in the use of band decoration. However, a very similar example is illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 31 top right, together with three other related dishes with a different treatment of the rim.

Compare another closely related vessel in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Minji meihin zuroku, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 38; and a rare dish of this design of even larger size in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Geng Baochang (ed.), Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci, Beijing, 2002, pl. 136, together with three much small Qing copies, two of Yongzheng mark and period, pls 195 and 199, and one of Qianlong mark and period, pl. 203. See another similar example published in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 757; one from the Herschel V. Johnson collection included in Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1973, pl. 12; and a dish sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th October 2006, lot 901.

Two lotus bouquet dishes are included in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. Two, London, 1994, pls. 665 and 666, the latter painted with a wave border at the rim and the base bearing a Persian inscription in black ink and a drilled dot mark. This inscription suggests that the piece belonged to the Mughal court.

Sotheby's. Asian Art, Paris, 16 December 2010.