The bowl is painted both inside and out with scrolling lotuses or peonies, the centre of the interior with a flowerhead within a double circle. The exterior border has a key pattern, the interior a floral meander. The lower part has lotus lappets above a classical scroll around the foot rim. The base has a well-defined Xuande six-character mark within a double circle. The blue has the typical “heaped and piled” effect.

Identical bowls are in several museums around the world, including the British Museum (PDF.682).

Literature: Anthony du Boulay, The Duberly Collection of Chinese Art at Winchester College (Winchester, 2019), p. 25

Provenance: Bequeathed as part of the Duberly Collection, 1978; purchased by Major Montagu and Lady Eileen Duberly from John Sparks, 11 April 1951 (£70); formerly in the collection of Sir Alan Barlow (1881-1968)

Location: Treasury, Gallery 2