A blue and white ming dish, 16th century.

Purchased at auction by the present owner, previously in the collection of Johanne Huitfeldt.

Johanne Huitfeldt (1932-2023) was a well known Norwegian art historian and curator at the Norwegian Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. She took a special interest in East Asian Art and it was due to her that the museum in Oslo got a permanent exhibition of East Asian art and crafts in 1983.

Johanne Huitfeldt released a number of books such as ’General Munthe: eventyrer og kunstsamler i det gamle Kina’, ’Porselenet fra Kina’, ’Ostindisk porselen i Norge’, ’The Munthe Collection in the West Norway Museum of Applied Art’, ’Drømmen om Kina: kineserier fra europeiske slott til norsk folkekunst’, ’Blått som havet: keramisk blåmaleri fra Peking til Porsgrund’. Her last book ’Bergtatt av kinesisk kunst’ was released in 2021 and her last exhibition was held in the summer of 2023, just months before she passed away at the age of 91.

Compare with dishes in the Collection of The Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, in the Catalogue Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Musum Istanbul, A complete catalogue II, Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains, on page 685-687.