Nine-lobed porcelain dish
From Japan
Edo period,
late 17th century AD
The porcelain dish is enamelled in overglaze colours in the Kutani style. Ko-Kutani ('Old' Kutani) style porcelain is one of the most highly prized of all enamelled porcelains within Japan.
The dishes are often bordered with illustrated panels similar to those of Chinese Wanli wares. Here they are decorated with plum, iris and pairs of birds in a semi-Japanese style. The central roundels are often purely Chinese in essence: here scholars walk under a pine in a mountain landscape.
The underside of the dish is inscribed with the Chinese character fuku ('fortune').
L. Smith, V. Harris and T. Clark, Japanese art: masterpieces in (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)
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