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Lot Essay
This magnificent charger is superbly potted at an impressive size of 44.5 cm. in diameter, brilliantly decorated in strikingly vibrant blue tones, indicative of the application of precious imported cobalt minerals. Chargers of this type were prized treasures within the Ming palace as well as courts in the West, and the barbed-rim shape adds further visual appeal.
It was not until the early 15th century that grapes became a primary motif on porcelains decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. Before that, the fruit only appeared occasionally as a minor part of the decoration on Yuan blue and white vessels. Grapes are among the plants that are recorded as having been brought to China from Central Asia by Zhang Qian, a returning envoy of Emperor Wudi in 128 BC, and many different varieties of grape were grown in China by the early 15th century.
Porcelain vessels decorated with cobalt blue grapes were much admired in China, and their popularity with the court has been confirmed by finds in the Yongle strata at the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen. However these early 15th century Chinese blue and white porcelains with grape designs, especially dishes like the one in the current sale, were also much admired in Iran, as is evidenced by the examples preserved in the Ardebil collection, now housed in the Iran Bastan Museum, Teheran. They were also popular in Turkey, as evidenced by those preserved in the collection of the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul. Indeed, such Chinese dishes were so admired that they were closely copied in lower-firing ceramics by the potters at the Turkish Iznik kilns in the early 16th century. Thus the Yongle porcelain dish with underglaze blue grape design provides an appropriate illustration of the way influences travelled back and forth across Asia.
A very similar barbed-rim 'grapes' dish formerly from the Winkworth and Sedgwick collections, now in the British Museum, is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 117, no. 3:36. Other examples include one in the Freer Gallery collection, illustrated in The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Kodansha series, 1982, col. pl. II; another formerly in the H.M. Knight collection, sold at Sotheby's London, 15 June 1982, lot 279.
There are two very similar examples previously sold at auction for exceptional prices.
1) One was formerly in the collection of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), fifth emperor of the Mughal Dynasty of Northern India, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 18 March 2015, lot 264, for US$5,122,000.
2) Another was previously sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1661 (fig. 1), and again at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 22 April 2021, lot 3612 for HK$17,115,000.
It was not until the early 15th century that grapes became a primary motif on porcelains decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. Before that, the fruit only appeared occasionally as a minor part of the decoration on Yuan blue and white vessels. Grapes are among the plants that are recorded as having been brought to China from Central Asia by Zhang Qian, a returning envoy of Emperor Wudi in 128 BC, and many different varieties of grape were grown in China by the early 15th century.
Porcelain vessels decorated with cobalt blue grapes were much admired in China, and their popularity with the court has been confirmed by finds in the Yongle strata at the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen. However these early 15th century Chinese blue and white porcelains with grape designs, especially dishes like the one in the current sale, were also much admired in Iran, as is evidenced by the examples preserved in the Ardebil collection, now housed in the Iran Bastan Museum, Teheran. They were also popular in Turkey, as evidenced by those preserved in the collection of the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul. Indeed, such Chinese dishes were so admired that they were closely copied in lower-firing ceramics by the potters at the Turkish Iznik kilns in the early 16th century. Thus the Yongle porcelain dish with underglaze blue grape design provides an appropriate illustration of the way influences travelled back and forth across Asia.
A very similar barbed-rim 'grapes' dish formerly from the Winkworth and Sedgwick collections, now in the British Museum, is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 117, no. 3:36. Other examples include one in the Freer Gallery collection, illustrated in The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Kodansha series, 1982, col. pl. II; another formerly in the H.M. Knight collection, sold at Sotheby's London, 15 June 1982, lot 279.
There are two very similar examples previously sold at auction for exceptional prices.
1) One was formerly in the collection of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), fifth emperor of the Mughal Dynasty of Northern India, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 18 March 2015, lot 264, for US$5,122,000.
2) Another was previously sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1661 (fig. 1), and again at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 22 April 2021, lot 3612 for HK$17,115,000.