A rare blue and white 'elephant and lion' dish. Ming dynasty, 16th century

A rare blue and white 'elephant and lion' dish. Ming dynasty, 16th century

the rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot to an everted rim, painted in rich cobalt-blue tones to the interior with a medallion enclosing a large Buddhist lion and elephant, encircled in the well by four prunus sprays, the exterior with three stylised floral sprays above a classic scroll band. 42.5cm., 16 3/4 in. Est. 7,000—9,000 GBP

NOTE: A slightly smaller dish of closely related design, in the Ardebil Shrine, is illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Ceramics from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 91, fig. 29.147. Compare also a dish similarly decorated with a central medallion of a lion and elephant by a stream, but with a bird and flower scroll on the everted rim, in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, vol. 2, London, 1986, p. 610, pl. 844; and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 24^th May 1979, lot 361.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 13 May 09. London www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's.