Lot 709

Zhangzhou Swatow Blue & White Dish, Phoenix, Shipwreck

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Lot 709
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Zhangzhou Swatow Blue & White Dish, Phoenix, Shipwreck
Zhangzhou Swatow Blue & White Dish, Phoenix, Shipwreck
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Zhangzhou Swatow Blue & White Dish, Phoenix, Shipwreck

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
July 30, 2026 8:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

East Asia, China, Ming Dynasty, ca. 1550–1644 CE. A broad porcelain dish painted in cobalt blue beneath a clear glaze, its cavetto given over to a phoenix wheeling amid scrolling lotus and a full-blown peony. The rim is divided into shaped panels of blossoming sprays reserved against a diapered ground, a hallmark of the Zhangzhou (Swatow) kilns of coastal Fujian. The potting is generous and unpretentious, the cobalt applied with a fluid, spontaneous hand that lets the brush wander. Sand adheres to the unglazed foot, and pale marine encrustations cling to the base, the mineral signature of long immersion on the seabed. Such deposits strongly suggest recovery from a shipwreck, a fate common to the export wares that flowed from Fujian to Southeast Asian and Japanese markets in the twilight of the Ming. Size: 10.4" D x 2.1" H (26.4 cm D x 5.3 cm H).

Zhangzhou wares, long known in the West as "Swatow" after the port through which they were thought to have shipped, were produced in the private kilns of southern Fujian primarily for maritime export. Coarser and more freely painted than the imperial porcelains of Jingdezhen, they answered the enormous demand of the late 16th and early 17th century trade, reaching Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and beyond. Modern scholarship treats "Swatow" as a broad, somewhat misleading umbrella and prefers the more precise attribution to the Zhangzhou region, of which this dish is a characteristic product.

The phoenix (fenghuang) carries connotations of virtue and renewal, while the peony signals wealth and honor, an auspicious pairing prized by overseas buyers. Sand-adhered feet like this one are typical of the kilns' quick production, and the accretions here place the dish among the sunken cargoes that have made Zhangzhou porcelain a touchstone for the study of early modern Asian trade. Comparable wares were recovered from the Dutch East Indiaman Witte Leeuw, lost off St. Helena in 1613.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection, ex Los Angeles, CA collection 2025 acquired from Alexander, Barakat, Los Angeles, CA collection 2023, ex Barakat Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA acquisition dates between 1985 and 2005.

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Item # 202667

  • Condition: A few stable hairline surface fissures. Some nicks, pitting, and abrasions, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact and excellent with nice remains of pigment and detail. Craquelure to glaze and marine encrustations on foot.

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