Zhuge bowl, Ming Dynasty cup, with double bottom (called zhuge), to put hot water in (through the circular hole made on the bottom) and keep food at temperature. The interior is decorated in the center with three friends playing checkers, surrounded by the three classic trees of plum, pine and bamboo, symbols respectively of Laotze, Buddha and Confucius.
The professor. Ye Zhemin, in the 'Palace Museum Journal' (n° 3, 2000, Beijing), writes: 'The most representative blue-white ceramics of the beginning of the Ming dynasty are those of the Yongle and Xuande period. In them the two colors are quite distinct and the blue is so intense that it seems to penetrate the body of the porcelain. Color shifting and black and brown speckles also often occur. The effect is mysterious and refined. Refined and natural at the same time, so much so that it is reminiscent of Chinese landscape paintings. For this reason the ceramics of this period were loved by both Chinese and foreigners, to the point of being considered the classic model of white-blue ceramics... Cups of this type, dating back to the first period of the Ming dynasty, are extremely rare. Here it represents a small treasure for a museum'.
In the Museum since 1963. Restoration in 2004 by the MIC of Faenza.
