AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND LARGE BLUE AND WHITE RESERVE-DECORATED 'PEONY' DISHXuande six-character mark in a line and of the period Elegantly potted, the shallow rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to a delicately everted rim, decorated in the centre with a flowering peony spray enclosed within a single white line, surrounded on the cavetto by six fruiting sprays of pomegranate, loquat, cherry, persimmon, peach and lychee, the underside with scrolling chrysanthemum, the foot with further two bands, all reserved in white with finely incised details on a rich 'royal blue' ground under a translucent glaze, the six-character mark inscribed in underglaze blue reserved in a rectangular cartouche below the rim, the unglazed base burnt orange, fitted box. 38.7cm (15 1/4in) diam. (2). 明宣德 藍地白花牡丹花果紋大盤 青花「大明宣德年製」楷書款 Provenance : Baron Guy Etienne de Villelume (1908-1991), Château de La Gorgue, France J.-P. Chapelle, P. Perrin, D. Fromantin, Versailles, 12 February 1978, lot 76 A French private collection 來源 ：Guy Etienne de Villelume 男爵 (1908-1991)，法國拉格爾格堡 J.-P. Chapelle, P. Perrin, D. Fromantin, 凡爾賽，1978年2月12日，編號76 法國私人珍藏 Baron Guy de Villelume had an interest in watercolours and exhibited in the Salon des Artistes Français in 1933. On his death, the Château de La Gorgue was taken over by the town hall, which set up a cultural centre and the Villelume leisure centre there. The present dish is extremely rare, with only three other published dishes of this type bearing the mark of Xuande and of the period. One dish is the pair to the present lot, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 15 March 2017, lot 6, and was formerly acquired directly from Baron Guy de Villelume on 16 September 1988. A second dish is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty , Beijing, 2015, pl.89. The third dish, formerly in the Ataka collection, is in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, illustrated in Art of the World , vol.14, Tokyo, 1976, pl.30. This magnificent, large and rare dish exhibits the ambition and technical dexterity achieved at the Imperial kilns of the Xuande period (1426-1435), as well as changing shifts between the Yongle (1403-1424) and Xuande periods. In the Yongle period, many of the finest items made at Jingdezhen were sent abroad, whereas in the Xuande period, with the generalised use of the Imperial reign mark, production at the Imperial kilns appears to have been destined almost exclusively for the Court. The present dish was thus made to satisfy increasing demands from the Imperial Court. To catch up with the unprecedented demand, the artisans at Jingdezhen had to develop hundreds of new designs suitable for the Imperial House without bing repetitive and maintaining a certain level of originality. This led to greater experimentation and innovation. The present dish thus also encapsulates the innovative spirit of ceramic