dish; storage box BM-Franks.498.A

Period:Unknown Production date:1640s
Materials:porcelain
Technique:mould-made, glazed, painted, underglazed,
Subjects:landscape scholar chinese
Dimensions:Diameter: 35.50 centimetres Height: 5.50 centimetres

Description:
Nine-lobed dish. Two Chinese scholars and a servant under pine in mountain landscape within central roundel; border panels of iris, plum and paired birds. Made of porcelain decorated with underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze enamels. Kokutani style. Sealed and inscribed. With paulownia storage box.
IMG


Comments:This is an excellent example of Kokutani-style porcelain. It was made in a western Arita kiln, possibly Yanbeta, in 1640-1650. It belongs to the first stage of Kokutani-style ware. The overall design derives from shonzui-style Chinese wares, but the central medallion is taken from the Chinese printed book, in Japanese ‘Hasshu gafu’ (Eight Painterly Styles), first published in Anhui province, China, circa 1616. A similar example is in the Corfu Museum of Asian Art, Greece. (NR 2015) Smith et al 1990The border panels of iris, plum and paired birds is in a semi-Japanese style, while the central roundel is of the purely Chinese subject of scholars under a pine in a mountain landscape. It is not proven that this lustrously enamelled piece is indeed of seventeenth-century date, but it is a splendid example of the Kokutani style.Jenyns, Soame, ‘Japanese Porcelain’, London, 1965, pl. 93a, b.He mentions that the dish was painted by Toda Kichihei. This was a misreading of the seal.