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

Dish

1660-1680 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In the late 1650s, following the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 and the consequent collapse of the Chinese ceramic export trade, Dutch merchants based in western Japan began commissioning copies of Chinese porcelain from Japanese kilns. These new orders greatly boosted the fledgling potteries of Arita, which was Japan's main centre for porcelain production during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The design of this dish imitates that of Chinese 'Kraak' porcelains of the sort made for export to the Middle East and Europe from the 1570s onwards. The Japanese painter of this dish simplified the original Chinese design, eliminating superfluous detail to achieve a powerfully graphic effect. Japanese porcelains were considerably heavier and often much larger than their Chinese counterparts. The cobalt used contained impurities that resulted in a distinctive bright but soft blue tinged with purple or blue.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Porcelain painted in underglaze blue
Brief description
Dish, porcelain, painted in underglaze blue after a Chinese 'Kraak' porcelain original, Arita, Japan, 1660-80
Physical description
Round dish painted in underglaze blue with a central design of birds, flowers and rocks, the rim divided into eight equal sections in the style of Chinese 'Kraak' export porcelain
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 38.8cm
Styles
Object history
Purchased from Robert Murdoch Smith, accessioned in 1876. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Acquired in Iran as part of the Richards Collection purchased by Major Robert Murdoch Smith

From the RICHARD collection.
Subjects depicted
Summary
In the late 1650s, following the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 and the consequent collapse of the Chinese ceramic export trade, Dutch merchants based in western Japan began commissioning copies of Chinese porcelain from Japanese kilns. These new orders greatly boosted the fledgling potteries of Arita, which was Japan's main centre for porcelain production during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The design of this dish imitates that of Chinese 'Kraak' porcelains of the sort made for export to the Middle East and Europe from the 1570s onwards. The Japanese painter of this dish simplified the original Chinese design, eliminating superfluous detail to achieve a powerfully graphic effect. Japanese porcelains were considerably heavier and often much larger than their Chinese counterparts. The cobalt used contained impurities that resulted in a distinctive bright but soft blue tinged with purple or blue.
Collection
Accession number
1711-1876

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Record createdMarch 7, 2000
Record URL
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