A rare and finely painted octagonal lobed bowl – in varying tones of under glaze blue – with the eight spreading panels being identical in size - all above a design of petal motifs. Around the inside of the rim, there is a band of diaper ground pattern within which are eight oval reserves, each containing one of the “ Eight Precious Things “. The short lobed foot rim is thick and the base is glazed - displaying a six-character apocryphal Chenghua mark within a double circle.
The Avalon Collection. This collection, which in the main focuses on the Interregnum and Kangxi periods
has been both carefully and sensitively formed over the last twenty-five years. The collector, a member of the English Oriental Ceramic Society, has assembled the collection with an eye for provenance whilst purchasing from old European collections, well-established antique dealers and at auction. Academically, the pieces have been well researched both in terms of their symbolism and narrative themes. In many instances the imagery on the pieces has been referenced to episodes in the romantic and historic novels of Chinese mythology, which were used extensively in the decoration of seventeenth century Chinese porcelain. Purchased from Lawrence Auctioneers of Crewkerne, England, November 2005, Lot 680.