A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'PALACE' BOWL

The design of this bowl is based on Chenghua-period prototypes. These so-called 'palace bowls' are distinguished by the high quality of their raw materials, their fine potting, and the refined nature of their decoration, which eschewed minor bands and were usually encircled by elegant, large-scale floral scrolls. The bowls were decorated with a variety of flowers, including the mallow flowers seen on this bowl, as well as daylilies and lotus. For a Chenghua-marked ‘palace bowl’ with the same pattern as the present bowl, see J. Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2000, p. 164, no. 6.4. Later in the Ming dynasty, and throughout the Qing dynasty, as seen on this successful Kangxi-period version, potters sought to emulate the quality of potting and painting displayed on the early-Ming ‘palace bowls'.