Page 64 - Kraak Porcelain, Jorge Welsh

44 Dish

Ming dynasty, Wanli/Tianqi
period ( - )
Chinese porcelain decorated
in underglaze cobalt blue
Diameter: cm

A large, heavily potted dish with shallow rounded The present dish, as well as the example discussed
sides, a broad flat, up-turned bracket-lobed rim and
low, v-shaped foot ring that slants slightly inwards. It is in entry no. , shows a variation of the bowl filled
painted in deep shades of cobalt blue, darkening in some
areas to a blackish-blue, beneath a blue-tinged glaze. with flowers and auspicious symbols motif, which is
The centre is decorated with a bowl with a shaped panel
enclosing a hexagonal-diaper pattern and filled with commonly found on kraak dishes of this form with
peony flowers and a rolled-up scroll, which is supported
on a stand of gnarled roots, all painted with thin lines panelled borders.
and washes of paint within an eight-pointed star-shaped
medallion surrounded by alternating scale and swastika- On this example the central motif is depicted without
diaper patterns and white on blue scrolling lotus linked
by ruyi-heads. The rounded sides and the flat, up-turned a background, leaving the impression that the bowl
lobed rim are divided into eight wide and narrow
radiating panels. The wide panels are alternately painted is floating on air. A dish of slightly larger size ( .
with blossoming flowers, including peony and aster,
and auspicious symbols tied with ribbons. The narrow cm diam.) with a comparable central motif within a
panels are decorated with rows of jewels and dots framed
above and below by scale, square and swastika-diaper panelled border of alternating peach sprays, peonies,
patterns. The underside is sketchily painted in deep
shades of cobalt blue with eight panels enclosing stylized long-tailed phoenixes and auspicious symbols is found
lingzhi-fungus, jewels and dots, separated by narrow
radiating panels painted with vertical lines pending from in the Santos Palace in Lisbon (inv. no. ). A group of
stylized lingzhi-fungus, all framed by thin blue lines
above the foot ring and a single line at below the rim. fourteen dishes (ranging from to cm in diameter)
The recessed base is marked by concentric and radiating
ribbed lines and is unglazed. Coarse sand from the kiln with a closely related rim and central decoration,
adheres to minute areas of the foot ring.
but including a balustrade in the background, is in

the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul (inv. nos.

/ , , , -, , , , -,

,, and ).

A small bowl or klapmutsen ( . cm diam.) decorated

with a bowl filled with fruits and blossoming flowers,

which was recovered from the Dutch East Indiaman, the

Witte Leeuw ( ) (inv. no. ), demonstrates that

this central motif was also used on other types of kraak

ware.

This central motif and a number of comparable examples are
discussed in this entry.
Illustrated in Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, ‘Les Porcelaines
Chinoises du Palais de Santos’, Arts Asiatiques, vol. XXXIX,