dish BM-1947-0712.291

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1488-1505
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed

Dimensions:Diameter: 17.80 centimetres Height: 4 centimetres

Description:
Porcelain dish with monochrome yellow glaze. This finely potted dish has rounded sides, an everted rim and a tapering foot. It is covered inside and out with a monochrome buttercup-yellow glaze. The base carries a six-character Hongzhi reign mark in a double ring.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:This type of porcelain was made at Jingdezhen under official order. For example, a portion of a smaller yellow dish with a Hongzhi mark was unearthed from the Ming remains at Zhushan, Jingdezhen. Mostly bowls and dishes were glazed in this way. Relatively few jars and larger items survive, but a large monochrome yellow jar with side handles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, testifies to their existence. Yellow monochromes, it is believed, were reserved for the sole use of the imperial court in the same way that purple was retained for the private use of the Caesars of Rome. However, some yellow wares were given as diplomatic gifts. For example, in the Ardebil shrine there were sixteen monochrome yellow wares: six dishes and ten bowls, dating from the Hongzhi (one), Zhengde (seven), Jiajing (five) and Wanli (three) reigns, collected by Shah ‘Abbas and donated to the shrine in 1611. These are now in the Archaeological Museum in Teheran, Iran. Hongzhi yellow monochrome porcelains are characterized by their delicate yellow colour and the clarity of their glaze, whereas Zhengde (see BM Franks.90+, BM 1947.0712.288, BM 1997.0501.7 and BM 1943.0215.17) and Jiajing (see BM 1943.0215.9, BM 1947.0712.284, BM Franks.42 and BM 1947.0712.283) yellow wares are covered with a deeper yellow glaze. Qing monochrome yellow glazes are also quite different. Another Hongzhi yellow dish of this type is in the Musee Guimet, Paris.