Dish thumbnail 1
Dish thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 145

Dish

ca. 1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This dish is one of four similarly decorated dishes, all of them painted with figures from the popular Chinese novel 'Water Margin', a story about brave and good-doing bandits comparable to Robin Hood. A distinct feature of the decoration is the absence of any complementary pattern in the background, as if the figures appear on a blank stage without a back-drop. A mark on the base, reading 'Studio to examine one's mind' indicates that the dishes were specially commissioned by a man of letters.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Porcelain painted in polychrome enamels
Brief description
Cer, China, Qing, f.verte; Later China
Physical description
Porcelain dish, painted in polychrome enamels with three figures of men on a plain white ground; a place mark in underglaze blue on the base.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 21cm
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
Underglaze blue mark 'wen xin zhai' on base
Translation
Sudio where one examines one's thoughts
Gallery label
Lantern and dish China, 1700–22 The scenes are from two Chinese novels: Romance of the Western Chamber and Water Margin. The latter figures were copied from an illustrated edition dated 1657. Museum nos. C.1260, 1197-1910. Salting Bequest(September 2009)
Credit line
Salting bequest
Object history
Bequeathed by Mr. George Salting, accessioned in 1910. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Subject depicted
Summary
This dish is one of four similarly decorated dishes, all of them painted with figures from the popular Chinese novel 'Water Margin', a story about brave and good-doing bandits comparable to Robin Hood. A distinct feature of the decoration is the absence of any complementary pattern in the background, as if the figures appear on a blank stage without a back-drop. A mark on the base, reading 'Studio to examine one's mind' indicates that the dishes were specially commissioned by a man of letters.
Bibliographic reference
Rose Kerr Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911' V&A, 1998, No…81
Collection
Accession number
C.1197-1910

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Record createdSeptember 16, 2005
Record URL
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