Diam. 7 1/2 ins. (19 cms) This fine bowl is extremely unusual in that both the interior and exterior are carved beneath the surface with plant-form motifs. This technique would require great skill to avoid cutting too deep and penetrating the porcelain. There are very few known examples carved on both sides. The Percival David Foundation publication "Qingbai Wares: Chinese Porcelain of the Song & Yuan Dynasties" (London 2002) only shows one example of this technique (plate 21), on a bowl from The Museum of Oriental Ceramics in Osaka, Japan. Their example also has rim chips and a firing crack in the rim.

The bowl is in excellent condition with no repairs. On the edge of the foot rim are very slight chips which are not damage but are caused by glaze run-off adhering to the kiln furniture which breaks away when cooling down. Several examples in the Percival David book show similar chipping on the edge of the foot. Where is glaze is thick on the outer edge of the foot rim there is a very small glaze crackle. The interior of the bowl has very faint iron brown marks due to burial. There is a very tiny possible chip to the top edge of the glaze under the rim on the outside which was too small to photograph successfully.

We bought it together with 2 Qingbai vases, since sold, with the label of the Henry Brown Collection and another label from the National Gallery of South Africa where they had been exhibited in 1953. We believe this bowl to be from the same collection and it is possible that it was also exhibited at this exhibition but we have been unable to locate a catalogue. We know nothing of the Henry Brown Collection but there was a collection with this name sold at Sothebys Belgravia many years ago. =

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