A rare red-glazed dish, Incised mark and period of Xuande...

A rare red-glazed dish,
Incised mark and period of Xuande
明宣德 紅釉盤 《大明宣德年製》刻款

potted with rounded sides resting on a tapered foot, applied overall with copper-red glaze, the glaze thinning and fading towards the rim, the base left white and incised with a six-character reign mark within a double circle, metal-bound rim

16.8 cm

Condition Report:
Two approx. 0.5cm shallow glaze flakes to the rim (one on the inside around 11 o'clock position to the mark; the other on the exterior around 5 o'clock), both partially covered by the metal mount. Surface wear and scratches. Inspected with the metal rim mounted.

口沿處見兩淺釉面剝落（約0.5公分，於内口沿約11點鐘方向，及外口沿約5點鐘方向），部分被鑲口覆蓋。見表面磨痕。未拆鑲口檢查。

Catalogue Note:
While copper began to be used at the Jingdezhen porcelain manufactories in the Yuan dynasty and was experimented with throughout the Hongwu reign, it was only in the Yongle period that a satisfactory bright red began to be achieved after many adjustments of glaze recipes, firing conditions and temperatures. Despite the tremendous effort in perfecting the pigment during the Yongle and Xuande reigns, a large number of shards were discarded at the Jingdezhen kiln sites, highlighting the difficulties experienced by even the highly accomplished imperial potters of that time to achieve satisfactory results.

Extant heirloom examples of either period are extremely rare; Compare a copper-red heirloom dish with an incised reign mark in the Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 170.

元朝時，景德鎮窰廠始以銅為色釉配料，直至洪武年間不斷試燒。經過歷年工匠多番改良色釉、調整燒製條件及窰溫，直至永樂年間，銅紅美器方有小成。然即便經由技藝精湛之御瓷藝匠主燒，據景德鎮御窰遺址永宣地層所見大量廢棄碎瓷破片判斷，欲成銅紅，絕非易事。

現存二朝傳世作例殊為罕有。類例可參考台北故宮博物院藏盤，器底同樣刻款，載於《明代宣德官窰菁華特展圖錄》，台北，1998年，編號170。