Christie's Hong Kong, 2nd October 1991, lot 743.

香港佳士得1991年10月2日，編號743

Painted with stylised lotus blooms and curled leaves in vib🌞rant cobalt blue, this charming dish belongs to a rare group of Xuande porcelain. The f🦹ancifully rendered lotus, similar to those seen on early Ming Buddhist sculptures, signifies untainted purity.

Although it is rare to find Xuande dishes of this design, there are a few comparable examples. A pair of dishes of the same form and design was formerly in the collections of George Eumorfopoulous and Mrs Alfred Clark, illustrated in Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1974, cat. nos 20-21, one of which sold in our London rooms, 29th May 1940, lot 232, and again in these rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 532. A related dish in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 🌠176; and another from the J.M. Hu Family Collection was sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1995, lot 419. 

See a slightly larger dish of very similar form and painted decoration, also with a Xuande reign mark and of the period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue and white porcelain in the Palace Museum], vol. 2, Beijing, 2002, pl. 129.

此盤青花濃艷，妙繪番蓮，伴飾卷葉，小巧之餘🅷，雅緻悅目。▨蓮花瓣片曲捲、枝葉華麗，與明初佛教造像上所飾蓮紋相近，應有純潔無瑕之寄語。 

宣德御瓷中，此盤式甚罕，但仍有數例可資比較。例如尤莫弗普勒斯（George Eumorfopoulos）、艾弗瑞．克拉克夫人（Mrs Alfred Clark）遞藏對盤，形、飾均與此吻合，收入《Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark》，Spink &a🌠mp; Son Ltd，倫敦，1974年，編號20-21，其中一盤在1940年5月29日經倫敦蘇富比售出，編號232，後在2001年10月29日於香港蘇富比易手，編號532。台北故宮也有一例，見《明代宣德官窰精華特展圖錄》，台北，1998年，編號176。胡惠春家族珍藏也有一盤，199🔥5年9月23日在紐約蘇富比拍出，編號419。

北京故宮博物院藏一相類蓮紋盤，惟尺寸稍大，見《故宮博物院藏明初青花瓷》，卷2▨，北京，2002年，圖版129。