Page 32 - Kraak Porcelain, Jorge Welsh

7 Saucer dish
Ming dynasty, Wanli period
( - ), ca. -
Chinese porcelain decorated
in underglaze cobalt blue
Diameter: . cm
A small, thinly potted and slightly warped saucer dish
with flared sides, an up-turned bracket-lobed rim and
low, v-shaped foot ring that slants slightly inwards. It is have ten. The painted decoration of these medallions,
painted in deep shades of cobalt blue beneath a bright
white glaze with a bluish tinge. The central eight-pointed
star-shaped medallion painted with a thick blue band
is decorated with a white hare seated with his head
turned upwards gazing at the moon in front of a blue
rock among lingzi fungus and grasses, all rather crudely
painted with thin lines and washes of paint. The gently
rounded cavetto is faintly moulded with eight teardrop-
shaped medallions and radial bands alternately painted
with stylized peach sprays and insects (possibly
depicting stylized bumblebees), each connected by a
single looped C-scroll below the rim. The underside
is similarly decorated in deep blue with thin lines
dividing it into five segments each with a group of five
dots, framed within thin blue lines and a thick blue line
encircling the foot ring. The recessed base and underside
are covered with a brilliant bluish-white glaze. Coarse
sand from the kiln adheres to an area of the central
medallion and minute areas of the foot ring.
This example belongs to a group of small kraak saucer
dishes modelled with up-turned bracket-lobed rims and
circular, or teardrop-shaped, medallions faintly moulded
on gently rounded cavettos and rims. Saucer dishes of
this type range from about to cm in diameter. The
saucer dishes of smaller size ( - cm) have either six
or eight teardrop or circular medallions; the larger ones
consisting of flowers, peach sprays, auspicious symbols
or a combination, follows that of the moulded pattern.
These medallions are connected by either single or
double-looped C-scrolls. The centre of these dishes
is typically decorated with a star-shaped medallion
outlined by thick single or double blue lines, enclosing
auspicious or naturalistic motifs. Depending on size,
the underside of these dishes is usually divided into
six, eight or ten radiating segments. In most examples
these segments are divided by thin lines splitting in two
above the foot ring, however, in this case the lines do
not split. Each segment is decorated in the centre with
a stylized auspicious symbol or with a pearl and four
dots. Fragments of this type of saucer dish have been
excavated at the Guanyinge kiln site located in the north
of the Old City Zone in Jingdezhen.
The central motif of this dish, depicting a hare gazing
at the moon, first appeared on blue and white wares of the
Ming dynasty. It is frequently found on Jiajing period
( - ) dishes, as is seen on a dish in the collection
of the Santos Palace in Lisbon (inv. no. ) and on a
partially reconstructed saucer dish made up of four
fragments excavated at the monastery of Santa Clara-a-
Velha in Coimbra (inv. no. ). An identical depiction
of the hare with its head turned upwards, but gazing at
a bird of prey instead of the moon, is shown on a Jiajing