Page 40 - Kraak Porcelain, Jorge Welsh

14 Dish
Ming dynasty, Wanli period
( - ), ca. -
Chinese porcelain decorated
in underglaze cobalt blue
Diameter: cm
A large, heavily potted dish with deep rounded sides,
a wide flat, up-turned bracket-lobed rim and low,
v-shaped foot ring that slants slightly inwards. It is
covered with a blue-tinged glaze and painted in two
contrasting shades of light silvery cobalt blue, which
darkens in some areas to a blackish-blue. The central
medallion is decorated with a landscape depicting
three deer among flowering water plants under a pine
tree with an overhanging branch partially covered by
clouds beneath the moon, all encircled by thin double
blue lines. The rounded sides and the flat, up-turned
rim are divided into ten wide and narrow radiating
panels. The wide panels are delicately painted with
naturalistic scenes depicting birds, insects, butterflies a noticeably more complex manner than those seen
and bumblebees on small blossoming flowers, including
peony and chrysanthemum, on pomegranate fruiting
branches and a duck swimming on a pond amongst
water plants. The narrow panels are painted with strings chrysanthemum, peony, pomegranate and other fruiting
of pearls and jewels framed at the top and bottom by
stylized scrolling leaves. The underside, painted in two
contrasting shades of blue and enclosed between a single
line on the rim and a double on the base, is decorated
with two opposing trees with long thorny branches
growing from rockwork, each with a bird perched on
one branch. These trees are separated by small groups
of curved lines. The recessed base is slightly convex and
marked by concentric grooves, and is unglazed. Thick,
coarse sand from the kiln adheres to areas of the foot
ring.
The wide panels of the rim of this dish are decorated in
on the dishes and plates discussed in the previous
entries. The panels in this example are painted with
dense naturalistic scenes including birds perched on