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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'LOTUS' BOWL, LIANZI WAN Xuande six-character mark and of the period image 1
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'LOTUS' BOWL, LIANZI WAN Xuande six-character mark and of the period image 2
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'LOTUS' BOWL, LIANZI WAN Xuande six-character mark and of the period image 3
PROPERTY FROM A NORTH AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR
Lot 21

A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'LOTUS' BOWL, LIANZI WAN
Xuande six-character mark and of the period

Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
15 September 2025, 09:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$127,500 inc. premium

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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'LOTUS' BOWL, LIANZI WAN

Xuande six-character mark and of the period
The deep-set bowl finely potted with thin, strongly rounded sides decorated with two tiers of stiff leaves under a wide band of undulating waves, the interior well set with two pomegranates joined to leafy stems enclosed in a double ring below a continuous network of six lotus blossoms with radiating leafy stems under a narrow keyfret band at the rim, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.
8 1/4in (21cm) diam; 4in (10.2cm) high; box

Footnotes

明宣德 《大明宣德年製》雙圈楷書款 青花外蓮辦内纏枝蓮紋蓮子碗

Provenance:
Acquired by the father of the present owner in Japan before the 1980s, by repute, and thence by descent

來源：
現任藏家父親於1980年代前得於日本，據傳，此後家族繼承

With its finely potted, deep rounded body echoing the form of a lotus seed pod, and elegantly painted lotus blossoms on the interior seemingly wrapped by the boldly rendered lotus petals beneath a crashing wave band on the exterior, the present bowl serves as a classic example of a lianzi wan, or lotus bowl, produced during the Xuande reign — so named for its resemblance to a lotus pod.

The unmarked form originated in the Yongle period, while the marked version gained popularity during the Xuande reign, celebrating the lotus flower's association with purity and spiritual enlightenment through its deep-rooted connection to Buddhist symbolism. The pomegranate depicted at the center of the interior, a symbol of fertility and abundance owing to its many seeds, further enhances the bowl's auspicious meaning, reinforcing the harmonious blend of form, symbolism, and imperial craftsmanship characteristic of early Ming porcelain.

A number of these bowls designed with two bands of lotus petals, instead of a single row of lotus petals which is more commonly seen in this type, are preserved in prominent collections, including one in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 162-163, pl. 154. One bowl in the Taipei Palace Museum is published in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, no. 154, and another from the Dr. Stephen Wootton Bushell bequest in the British Museum (coll. no. Franks.315.+) is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2000, pl. 134, fig. 4:27. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has a comparable bowl (coll. no. 1991.253.39) from the collection of Stanley and Adele Herzman, exhibited and included in Suzanne G. Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1992, p. 69, cat. no. 63 (Fig.1).

Similar bowls from renown collections have previously appeared at auctions. One in the collections of Wu Lai-Hsi, George Eumorfopoulos and Enid and Brodie Lodge, published in A. D. Brankston, Early Ming Wares of Chingtechen, pl. 13B and exhibited in the Oriental Ceramic Society, Exhibition of Ming Blue and White Porcelain, 1953, cat. no. 16, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2005, lot 1412. Two other bowls were included in An Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1949, pl. 55 and pl. 56, from the collections of Roy Leventritt and Richard Bryant Hobart, respectively - the latter sold in Sotheby's New York, 23 May 1969, lot 129.

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