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 |
|
Styles | |
Marks and inscriptions | Underglaze blue mark 'wen xin zhai' on base
|
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 created | September 16, 2005 |
Record URL |
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