3 - A LARGE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'QILIN' DISH, SHUNZHI PERIOD (1644-1661)

A LARGE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'QILIN' DISH, SHUNZHI PERIOD (1644-1661) thickly potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot, painted to the interior in rich cobalt-blue tones with a fabulous seated qilin amongst stylised flames, rockwork and plantain beneath the moon, all within a double line in underglaze blue and beneath a brown dressed rim, the underside plain, 35.6cm diameter Footnote: For a dish of similar size, subject matter and quality, see the example in the Palace Museum, Beijing illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Qingdai Ciqi Leixuan Qing Shunzhi Kangxi Chao Qinghuaci, Selected Chinese Ceramics from the Palace Museum: Blue and White Ceramics in Shunzhi and Kangxi Periods, vol. I, Beijing, 2004, pl. 20, another in the Butler Family Collection, illustrated in Shunzhi Porcelain, Treasures from an Unknown Reign, Seattle and London, 2002, cat. no.13, another similar dish is published in Chinese Blue and White Porcelain from the Pullan Collection, exhibited by Spink, November 1998, colour plate 37; and another in the Ashmolean Museum collection, is illustrated in Eastern Ceramics and Other Works of Art from the Collection of Gerald Reitlinger, no. 98, p. 49.