A FINE AND SMALL WUCAI 'FISH' BOWLWanli six-character mark and of the periodThe low rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot to a gently flaring rim, decorated to the exterior with blue fish swimming amidst waterweeds and aquatic plants rendered in red, yellow and green enamels, the interior painted in cobalt blue with a central dragon medallion encircled by five stylised cloud scrolls, inscribed to the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle, box.10.5cm (4 1/8in) diam.Provenance: 明萬曆 五彩魚藻紋小碗青花「大明萬曆年製」楷書款Provenance:Sotheby's Hong Kong, 3 April 2019, lot 3610The Robert Chang Collection, Hong Kong來源：香港蘇富比，2019年4月3日，拍品3610香港張宗憲先生珍藏It is remarkably rare to see lively depiction of fishes rendered in a range of flowing brushstrokes and loose washes to evoke an aquatic scene on a small bowl like the present lot. A sense of movement is captured through the different poses of the fish and the swaying of the aquatic plants that appear as if bending with the flow of the currents.Compare with a closely related Wanli mark and period 'fish' bowl in the Suzhou Museum collection; see also a Wanli mark and period bowl with fish in waterweeds, but the fishes painted in iron red, in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated inTheplete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl.54. For a Jaijing period prototype of the fish in waterweeds design, seeibid., pl.15.碗口微侈，鼓腹略為下垂收於圈足，口沿下及圈足上分別繪雙圈及單圈青花弦紋各一匝，弦紋之間以青花繪塘魚八尾，上下以釉上五彩繪水草浮萍，碗心繪青花正龍，內壁繪青花折枝卷草紋五朵，碗底青花雙圈內署「大明萬曆年製」六字楷書款。此碗小巧可愛，十分少見。萬曆以五彩為貴，而五彩魚藻紋碗並不多見，蘇州博物館有一例可資參考；另北京故宮藏一件較大的萬曆五彩魚蓮紋碗，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：五彩·鬥彩》，香港，1999年，編號54。 明代宣德朝已有五彩瓷器實物傳世，嘉靖朝到達高峰，萬曆朝延續之。魚藻紋五彩瓷器於嘉靖朝較為常見，如北京故宮藏一件明嘉靖五彩魚藻紋蓋罐，其紋飾鋪排設計當為本碗魚藻紋之範本，見前書，編號15。