A fine and rare tianbai-glazed incised 'lianzi' bowl, Mark and period of Xuande | 明宣德　甜白釉劃蓮瓣紋蓮子盌 　《大明宣德年製》款

5th Anniversary Exhibition. All-Stars of the Okada Collection: Masterworks of Korin, Jakuchu, Hokusai and the Ru Ware Kilns, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2018-19, exh. no. 60 (unillustrated).

Popular for the elegant small foot and deep form resembling the shape of a lotus bud (lianzi), bowls of this type were made at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen from the reign of the Yongle Emperor and acquired popularity not only at the Ming court, but also in the Near East. In both its form and decoration this bowl closely follows its Yongle period prototypes, which are known with a variety of both incised and anhua (‘hidden’) designs. See for example a bowl attributed to the Yongle reign, decorated with petals on the exterior and a decorative band on the rim, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 150.

A Xuande mark and period bowl of this type, from the Carl Kempe collection, illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 676, was sold in our Paris rooms, 12^th June 2008, lot 44; one from the Eumorfopoulos collection, included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1985, cat. 59, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 21^st May 1979, lot 21; and a third from the R.F.A. Riesco collection was sold in our London rooms, 7^th June 1988, lot 256. Compare also a Xuande mark and period lianzi bowl incised with two tiers of petals but lacking the band around the rim, in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 12^th May 1976, lot 76.

Bowls of this type from both the Yongle and Xuande reigns are also known painted in underglaze blue; see a bowl attributed to the Yongle reign in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, included in the exhibition Ming Porcelains, China Institute in America, New York, 1970, cat. no. 5; and a Xuande mark and period example in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, illustrated in Qinghua youlihong [Underglaze blue and red], Hong Kong, 1987, col. pl. 44.

展覽

《開館5周年記念展―美のスターたち―光琳．若冲．北斎．汝窯など名品勢ぞろい》， 岡田美術館，箱根，2018-19年，展覽編號60（沒載圖）

本盌器形秀美，敞口深腹，圈足小巧，外壁暗刻蓮瓣，形如蓮子。自永樂起，景德鎮御窰始燒蓮子盌，後即為宮廷所垂愛，甚至遠播近東等國。此盌造型及紋飾均承永樂制。永樂蓮子盌多以劃花、暗花為飾。可參考一例，斷代永樂，外壁飾蓮瓣紋，藏大英博物館，載於《Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections》，卷5，東京，1981年，圖版150。

Carl Kempe 舊藏中有一件宣德類例，錄於Bo Gyllensvard，《Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection》，斯德哥爾摩，1964年，圖版676，售於巴黎蘇富比2008年6月12日，編號44；另一件來自Eumorfopoulos收藏，曾展於《中國文物集珍·敏求精舍銀禧紀念展覽》，香港，1985年，圖錄編號59，售於香港蘇富比1979年5月21日，編號21；第三例，來自R.F.A. Riesco 收藏，售於倫敦蘇富比1988年6月7日，編號256。再比較另一件宣德蓮子盌例，飾雙層蓮瓣紋，但口沿無環飾，藏香港藝術館，曾售於香港蘇富比1976年5月12日，編號76。

此類盌亦見有青花者；可參考一永樂盌例，印第安納波利斯藝術館收藏，展於《Ming Porcelain》，華美協進社，紐約，1970年，編號5；另見一宣德例，藏上海博物館，圖見《青花釉里紅》，香港，1987年，彩色圖版44。