Blue and White Porcelain Bowl with Birds among Clouds, Yongle Mark

PP-0139

Description

A blue and white porcelain bowl with deep rounded sides rising to a slightly flared rim. The outside is painted with birds in flight among clouds, reserved in white on a deep blue ground, above a band of arched panels enclosing cloud scrolls round the foot. Inside, two blue lines circle the rim, and a double-line medallion in the centre frames a further pair of birds among clouds.

The glazed base carries a six-character Yongle mark, 大明永樂年製 (Da Ming Yongle nian zhi), written in regular script in two columns of three, in underglaze blue within a double circle. A reign mark gives the name of a reign; on its own it does not date a piece. Our guide to Chinese porcelain marks explains how marks are read.

We can send further photographs of the base and mark on request.