dish;
storage box
- Museum number
- Franks.498.A
- Description
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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.
- Production date
- 1640s
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 35.50 centimetres
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Height: 5.50 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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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)
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Smith et al 1990
The 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.
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- Franks.498.A