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Lot Essay
The current dish is a remarkably rare example of the very few extant Hongzhi-marked blue and white porcelain pieces. The Hongzhi Emperor, unlike his father the Chenghua Emperor, was known to be an austere ruler and issued several edicts during his reign to cease ceramic production at the imperial kiln in Jingdezhen, which accounts for the general scarcity of Hongzhi-marked pieces. Blue and white wares from this period are even rarer, with Adrian Joseph speculating that there are possibly less than 20 extant pieces known to date (refer to Adrian Joseph, Ming Porcelains. Their Origins and Development, London, 1971, p. 26).
This exceptional dish came from the celebrated collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark (née Ivy), one of the preeminent collectors of Chinese art in the 20th century. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Clark started collecting in the 1920s and their collection was first brought to the attention of the public in a series of articles written by Edgar E. Bluett in 1933-34. The couple were major supporters of the Oriental Ceramic Society in London, and regularly lent their pieces to its exhibitions. They are also remembered for their generous donation to the British Museum, including a Northern Song Ru dish (acquisition no. 1936,1019.1).
An identical Hongzhi dish decorated with double dragons contesting a 'flaming pearl' on the interior is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book IV, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 8 (fig. 1).
Other variations of this type include dishes painted with a single dragon on the exterior and two dragons contesting a pearl on the exterior, such as the example formerly in the collection of Y.C. Chen, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1932 (HK$3,870,000) (fig. 2); and another formerly in the Pilkington Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 28 (HK$6,440,000).
This exceptional dish came from the celebrated collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark (née Ivy), one of the preeminent collectors of Chinese art in the 20th century. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Clark started collecting in the 1920s and their collection was first brought to the attention of the public in a series of articles written by Edgar E. Bluett in 1933-34. The couple were major supporters of the Oriental Ceramic Society in London, and regularly lent their pieces to its exhibitions. They are also remembered for their generous donation to the British Museum, including a Northern Song Ru dish (acquisition no. 1936,1019.1).
An identical Hongzhi dish decorated with double dragons contesting a 'flaming pearl' on the interior is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book IV, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 8 (fig. 1).
Other variations of this type include dishes painted with a single dragon on the exterior and two dragons contesting a pearl on the exterior, such as the example formerly in the collection of Y.C. Chen, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 1932 (HK$3,870,000) (fig. 2); and another formerly in the Pilkington Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 28 (HK$6,440,000).