AN IMPERIAL YELLOW-GLAZED SAUCER-DISH

Jiajing six-character mark and of the period

Footnotes

明嘉靖 黃釉盤
青花「大明嘉靖年製」楷書款

Provenance: Bluett & Sons Ltd., London, 5 January 1968 (invoice and label)
John E. Bodie OBE (1930-2023), London, collection no.21

來源：倫敦古董商Bluett & Sons Ltd.，1968年1月5日（據收據和標籤）
大英帝國官佐勳章獲勳人John E. Bodie(1930-2023)，倫敦，藏品編號21

This present dish displays an attractive hue of rich yellow glaze, a colour reserved for the Imperial court. Despite their seemingly straightforward appearance, monochrome porcelains demanded meticulous precision in potting, glazing and firing, particularly relying on the clay's utmost purity for light-coloured glazes like this one. Known as 'Imperial yellow', this glaze was carefully crafted at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen throughout the Ming dynasty, where it was achieved by infusing ferric oxide into the lead silicate base.

Yellow, as one of the Five Elements wuxing, held profound symbolism for the emperor. It was believed that the emperor resided at the centre of the Five Directions, with the centre represented by the Earth element and associated with the colour yellow.

Compare with a pair of similar yellow-glazed saucer dishes, Jiajing marks and of the period, in the British Museum, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, nos.9:75 and 9:76. A similar yellow-glazed dish, Jiajing mark and period, was sold at Sotheby's London, 8 November 2017, lot 65.