A fine incised and anhua-decorated Replica Belts weet-white' 'lianzi' bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period | 明永樂 甜白釉暗花折枝花卉紋蓮子盌

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York.

Collection of Carl Kempe (1884-1967), coll. no. CK637.

Sotheby's Paris, 12th June 2008, lot 40.

An important private collection.

Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd June 2015, lot 3122.

Ralph M. Chait Galleries，紐約

卡爾肯普博士（1884-1967年）收藏，編號 CK637

巴黎蘇富比2008年6月12日，編號40

重要私人收藏

香港佳士得2015年6月3日，編號3122

Mostra d'Arte Cinese / Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 592.

《Mostra d’Arte Cinese／Exhibition of Chinese Art》，威尼斯，1954年，編號592

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 686.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures. A Selection From The Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including The Carl Kempe Collection, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 877.

Bo Gyllensvärd，《Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection》，斯德哥爾摩，1964 年，圖版686

《博物館珍藏的精品：中國陶器及其它》，烏爾里瑟港，2002年，圖版877

The present bowl belongs to a group of sweet white-glazed (tianbai) porcelain bowls favoured during the Yongle period. Its subtle combination of incised and anhua decoration on a beautifully potted lianzi shape manifested one of the most classic decorative repertoires in the early Ming dynasty. Anhua, 'hidden decoration', was practised almost exclusively at the beginning of the Ming dynasty, from the Hongwu to the Xuande period, and only at Jingdezhen.

Elegantly potted with deep rounded sides, the present bowl is faintly incised on the exterior with a neat row of well-defined lotus petals below a keyfret band, while the interior is superbly decorated in anhua with alternating chrysanthemum and camellia blooms below a border of crested waves.

A closely related bowl from the Eumorfopoulos Collection was sold in our London rooms, 30th May 1940, lot 312; another from the collections of M.C. Wang, Edward T. Chow and Mathias Komor was sold at Christie's New York, 16th October 2001, lot 132; and a third example was sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 215.

The incised and moulded decoration derives from blue and white porcelain of the same period, such as a bowl in the Eli Lilly collection, now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, included in the exhibition, Ming Porcelains. A Retrospective, China Institute in America, New York, 1971, cat. no. 5. Although blue and white bowls of this form and decoration were also produced, the Yongle Emperor is believed to have preferred monochrome white wares, and blue and white counterparts of such bowls only became popular later during the Xuande period.