A very rare blue and white 'phoenix' bowlWanli six-character mark and of the period
The interior vividly painted with a circular panel enclosing two swooping phoenix in pursuit of each other amidst dense lotus scroll ground, the cavetto encircled by eight phoenix roundels below a border of lingzhi heads at the rim, the exterior with a wide frieze of two flying phoenix between a wan-diaper border at the rim and interlinking ruyi heads around the foot. 21cm (8 1/4in) diam.注脚明萬曆 青花雙鳳穿花紋碗 青花「大明萬曆年製」楷書款

Provenance:
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 November 1986, lot 206
Sotheby's New York, 20 September 2000, lot 112

來源：
香港蘇富比，1986年11月19日，拍品編號206
紐約蘇富比，2000年9月20日，拍品編號112

It is very rare to find a Wanli mark and period bowl of this size and decoration and only four other closely related examples appear to have been published: see a Wanli period blue and white bowl of similar design and size from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Minji meihin zuroku [Illustrated catalogue of important Ming porcelains], vol.3, Tokyo, 1978, pl.69; and another from the Collection of Dr Ip Yee, illustrated in the Min Chiu Society exhibition catalogue, An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1980, no.88, which was later sold at Sotheby's Hong Hong, 19 November 1984, lot 190. A third closely related example was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 November 1988, lot 135; and the fourth example is illustrated by David Lin & Company, Yuan and Ming Blue and White Porcelain, Taipei, 2000, pl.20, and was later sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4067.

The Wanli emperor is known to have greatly admired porcelain wares made in the Xuande and Chenghua periods. The design of the archaistic phoenix pattern on the present lot is also inspired by the imperial blue and white 'phoenix' bowls produced earlier in the Xuande period; for such example but with different designs of borders, see Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, Taipei, 1963, pl.56.

The use of the phoenix motif was highly restricted outside of the imperial court, as stated in the Da ming hui dian or Code of Great Ming Dynasty. It is possible that the current bowl was made to be used in an imperial wedding ceremony, as the depiction of the two swooping phoenix with slightly different tails represent a luan, the male phoenix and a feng, the female phoenix, forming the idiom luan feng he ming or the Luan and the phoenix to sing together in harmony, representing happy marriage and conjugal felicity.

碗敞口，深弧腹，圈足。通體青花紋飾。碗心青花雙弦紋開光內繪雙鳳飛繞於蓮花之中，內壁飾八組團鳳紋，寓意鸞鳳和鳴，口沿內飾花卉紋一周。口沿外飾萬字錦地紋一周，腹壁繪一雙鳳凰遊弋於蓮花間，近足處飾如意雲頭紋一周，足牆點朵花紋。圈足青花雙圈內書「大明萬曆年製」楷書款。

此碗胎質細膩，釉面光亮潤潔，畫工精到，線條流暢，構圖疏密有致，層次清晰，清秀雅緻。同紋飾同尺寸者目前僅見四例出版：台北故宮博物院藏一例，圖刊於《明瓷名品圖錄》，卷3，東京，1978年，圖版69；另見香港敏求精舍創會會員葉義醫生藏一例，著錄於敏求精舍展覽圖錄《中國陶瓷雅集》，香港，1980年，編號88，後由香港蘇富比售出，1984年11月19日，拍品190；香港蘇富比曾售出第三例，1988年11月16日，拍品135；台北大衛古董出版一例，見《元明青花》，台北，2000年，圖版20，後由香港佳士得售出，2012年5月30日，拍品4067。

萬曆一朝御窯青花，常見仿宣德、成化者，此碗紋飾源於宣德朝官窰青花瓷器，滿佈紋飾，但繁而不亂，但青花料已與前不同，可仍不失俊美。見台北故宮博物院藏一例明宣德青花鳳凰蓮花紋碗，尺寸及外壁紋飾非常類似，唯碗心紋飾不同，見《故宮藏瓷：明青花瓷二》，台北，1963年，圖版56。

鸞鳳和鳴，寓意夫妻幸福美滿，當為大婚用器。據《大明會典·卷六十二》載「凡服色、器皿、房屋等項並不許雕刻、刺繡古帝王、後妃、聖賢人物故事及日月、龍鳳、獅子、麒麟、犀象等形，所以辨上下、定民志。至今遵守、不敢違越。」可以說明代是中國古代歷史上對鳳紋控制最嚴格的朝代，洪武初年即有定式，不可逾越。