J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

The moulded decoration found on the interior of this shallow bowl was a Yuan dynasty  innovation and it is the characteristic decorative method for ‘Shufu’ wares, so-called because they frequently include the characters shu and fu in the decoration. The freely carved design found on the exterior is rarely seen on ‘Shufu’ wares, and it is especially rare to find the two decorative techniques combined on one vessel.

Compare the set of smaller circular bowls of this type, moulded with floral design and with small shu and fu characters on the inside but plain on the outside, discovered in 1984 from a Yuan dynasty hoard in Shexian in southern Anhui province, illustrated in Wenwu, 1988, No. 5, p. 86, figs. 3 and 5.

Other smaller shallow bowls of this type with similar moulded designs including the characters shu and fu on the interior but with no carving on the exterior are in the collection of Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji: Yuan (The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics: Song Dynasty), Vol. 11, Shanghai, 2000, p. 99, no. 101, with description on p. 248, and in the British Museum, illustrated by Harrison-Hall in Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 63–64, nos. I:11, I:12 and I:13.