14th Century Large Blue and White Dish

Ming - Hongwu (1368 - 1398)

Four-Character Dynastic Mark

Anhui Dish

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30.4 centimeters  diameter (1 foot)  --  7.6 centimeters height  (3 inch)

The Phoenix bird alighting on a Wu Tong tree with stylized clouds overhead. The Phoenix bird is gazing (traditionally) at a ball of fire in the sky. A small bird always accompanies the Phoenix bird. The inner rim with a trellis-diaper band. The rim has much visible wear, as does the inner surface of the dish. Regardless of the three visible cracks, it rings like a bell when struck.

The exterior has five full lotus blooms connected by a wandering vine with traditional trefoil leaves. Alternating between each full lotus bloom is the profile of a partially curled lotus bloom (or bud).

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.About the Mark

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This is a very important porcelain.  As the Annam Vase is to the 15th century, this dish is just as important to the 14th century, born from legend, and having been made specifically for the Court of Hongwu.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no authenticated porcelain pieces baring the Hongwu reign mark. Even thermoluminescent testing would not help, since it's accuracy range gives too wide a berth to distinguish between late Yuan and early Ming. Of the thousands of shards unearthed from the Hongwu stratum during the many excavations conducted at Zhushan over the years, not one piece contains a Hongwu reign mark. Even Hobson questioned two rare pieces housed at the British Museum, stating that one was "almost certainly a Japanese imitation". The first mark in fact suggesting Ming Imperial quality was from the Yongle stratum, and that mark was the image of a dragon, not a reign mark.

Any piece proclaimed authentic Hongwu not baring a mark identifying it as Ming, is only a guess. The Anhui Dish stands alone in this category and is quite possibly the first known example of Hongwu Imperial porcelain.

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