WANLI PERIOD, LATE 16TH CENTURY

The intensity of the cobalt blue used on this bowl is particularly noteworthy. When describing such blue tones on pieces in the Riesco Collection, Edgar E. Bluett noted, “Seen at its best there is a pulsating loveliness in this colour very difficult to describe in words and only possible to be fully appreciated by the actual beholder.” (The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1951, p. 14)

A similar bowl in the Percival David Foundation, London, is illustrated by Margaret Medley in Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1976, plate VIII, no. A661, listed p. 45. Other examples in important museum collections include one from the Avery Brundage Collection, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated by Suzanne Valenstein in the China Institute exhibition catalogue, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1970, p. 73. no. 45; also one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt in Ming Porcelain, p. 146, pl. 126. The fact that other surviving bowls of the type have similar narrow metal bands on their rims suggests that these were decorative rather than added to conceal damage.