31.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ CARVED BOWL
Ming dynasty, Tianqi/ Chongzhen period
13 cm diam.
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina,Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3279.
The bowl is painted around the exterior with five ruyi-shaped cartouches enclosing a figure on a sampan and landscape and rockwork, all against a deeply carved sectional wan (“ten thousands”) diaper ground and below a honeycomb design around the rim. The interior is painted with a figure of a warrior before pierced rockwork in a fenced garden.
The decoration to the interior was likely inspired by a novel and is a harbinger of the popular literary narratives depicted on ‘blue and white’ wares made for the domestic market during the end of the Ming and early Qing dynasty, often including subtle sub-texts symbolising loyalty to the Ming.
A related but larger bowl is in the British Museum, London (J. Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of the Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London 2001, n. 12:40).
