PHONETICALLY TRANSCRIBED ZHENGDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN IRON-RED WITHIN TWO DOUBLE CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1506-1521)

细节

A RARE IRON-RED ARABIC-INSCRIBED DISH
Phonetically transcribed Zhengde six-character mark in iron-red within two double circles and of the period (1506-1521)
With shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, the interior painted in dark iron-red with an Arabic inscription medallion surrounded by four phrases in an outer ring, all within double line borders repeated at the rim and on the exterior above and below four further phrases, two of them in Arabic, the other two the same phrase but translated into Persian
9¼in. (23.5cm.) diam.

拍品专文

The inscription in the central roundel reads, 'For God provides sustenance to whom He pleases without measure'; those on the interior walls, 'God, may His praise be blessed said'; and the four on the exterior, 'God, the Most Supreme told the truth', twice in Arabic and twice in Persian.
Three other dishes of this very rare iron-red-decorated group have been published. Each has different Arabic inscriptions on the interior, and phrases only in Arabic on the reverse. The arrangement of the phrases is the same as on the present dish and they also have a phonetic Zhengde mark in Arabic. All of these dishes are smaller than the present dish. One excavated at Jingdezhen and now in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, Shanghai and Kyoto, 1981, vol. 21, pl. 14, the other in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1966, vol. II, pl. 7. This dish is discussed by S. Jenyns in 'A Visit to the Pei-kou, Taiwan', T.O.C.S., 1957-59, vol. 31, p. 57, where the author mentions seeing another similar dish in the collection, and goes on to mention a similarly decorated stem cup in the Philadelphia Museum. The third published dish, formerly in the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, was sold in these rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 170.