Bowl - Porcelain - 壽 Shou - Longevity - China - Transitional Period

A rare fine quality bowl from the late Ming dynasty decorated in underglaze blue with Longevity Shou characters and round Shou symbols. The rim shows the typical honeycomb with dots pattern, but the band near the foot is decorated with unusually nice blue lappets.

The inside is painted with Shou Lao, the god of longevity, in a double ring medallion. He is flying on the back of a crane with outstretched wings amid ruyi/lingzhi-shaped clouds. The band near the rim shows crashing waves.

The base signed with an apocryphal Chenghua mark in double ring.

This type of bowl with Shou Lao in a center medallion is well known and most examples are rather crudely done. The present example is of much finer quality, well potted with a flaring rim and nicely decorated with strong cobalt tones.

Reference: For a similar but cruder design, please see British Museum collection, no. Franks.760. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_Franks-760

Also a similar bowl in the Keramiekmuseum Princessehof NO 01285: https://aziatischekeramiek.nl/dadd/22645

And a similar bowl offered at Roseberys:: https://www.roseberys.co.uk/a0606-lot-543425-a-large-chinese-blue-and-white-immortals-bowl-ming-dynasty-wanli-period

Dimensions: Height 9,6 x Width 22,6 cm

Condition: In good condition; only one stabilized hairline and associated retouched small rimchip and the typical rimfritting common with this ware.

Shipping: The bowl will be very securely packaged and shipped with insurance. (Without the doll house vase, just for scale).