A HIGHLY RARE TIMURID BLUE & WHITE BOWL, FOR CHINESE INTEREST, 14TH CENTURY, PERSIA of deep form with rounded walls on a short foot, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue with a central medallion featuring a scrolling lotus flower, the body decorated with lotus flowers on an adjoining leafy scroll, with a band of mountain forms at the rim, the exterior with a similar design of scrolling lotus flowersCatalogue NoteThe deep-form seen here decorated with lotus scroll on both the interior and exterior with minor bands of breaking wave and key fret pattern derives from an early Ming blue and white prototype, either from the reign of the Hongwu emperor (r.1368-99) or Xuande emperor (r.1426-35). Two bowls in the British Museum (inv. nos.OA and OA ), illustrate this Chinese prototype, see Harrison-Hall, J., Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p.133, nos.4:24 and 4:25. Also, two similar examples from the Timurid period are illustrated in Lentz and Lowry 1989, pp.228 and 229, nos.130 and 131. The rarity of this type of Timurid deep bowl is testified by the fact that no closelyparable example is found in the definitive account of Timurid ceramics Tamerlane's Tableware (Golombek, Mason and Bailey 1996).Previously catalogued in Sothebys with an estimate of 60,000- 80,000 GBP Diameter: 32cmHeight: 16cm