bowl BM-1985-1119.30

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1643 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,

Dimensions:Diameter: 12 centimetres Height: 5.50 centimetres

Description:
Porcelain bowl with underglaze blue decoration. It is decorated with the character 喜 ‘xi’ (happiness), repeated three times around the outside, cupped by foliage, with the character ‘wan’, a symbol encompassing all that is positive and good, in between. Inside the centre is a hastily written four-character Chenghua mark in a double square. The base is encrusted with shells and debris from the sea bed. Local cobalt, high in iron impurities, has been used to ornament the bowl, which has fired brown in patches.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:This provincial blue-and-white bowl was recovered from the Hatcher wreck. The glaze has lost its glossy appearance as a result of abrasive sand in the sea water during a three hundred year sojourn at the bottom of the South China Sea, yet the cobalt decoration beneath the glaze survives.Although we know that these bowls were part of a consignment for export, similar bowls excavated in a domestic context testify to the fact that porcelains of this quality were not sold exclusively to unsuspecting foreigners but were also sold and used within China. When the tomb of Hua Shiyi (1566-1629) and his wife was excavated in Wuxi county, Jiangsu province, in 1984, similar bowls were discovered associated with tea paraphernalia. The earlier date of this find suggests that similar bowls were produced over a long period with only minor variations in the design, making the dating of provincial wares extremely difficult.See BM 1984.0303.11a-b and BM 1985.1119.31,13 and 14.