Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Dish

1426-1435 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Jingdezhen (made)

A dish with rounded sides everted at the rim, straight foot with unglazed foot ring and slightly convex base. Painted in a rich blue which has precipitated to give a 'heaped and piled' effect. On the inside is a five-clawed dragon among waves surrounded by a band with two very faint designs in 'anhua' white slip under the glaze, and on the outside two running dragons among rocks.

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Discover more about this object
read Chinese blue-and-white ceramics Originally invented in China, blue-and-white ceramics were widely circulated, copied and re-created by makers worldwide, becoming one of the most well-known and enduring products in the history of Chinese porcelain.

Object details

Categories
Ceramics
Porcelain
Object type
Dish
Materials and techniques
Porcelain, painted in underglaze blue
Porcelain
Cobalt Blue
Slip
Glaze
Throwing
Painting
Glazing
Firing
Brief description
Dish made of porcelain painted with underglaze cobalt blue, China, Ming dynasty, Xuande mark and period, 1426-35.
Physical description
A dish with rounded sides everted at the rim, straight foot with unglazed foot ring and slightly convex base. Painted in a rich blue which has precipitated to give a 'heaped and piled' effect. On the inside is a five-clawed dragon among waves surrounded by a band with two very faint designs in 'anhua' white slip under the glaze, and on the outside two running dragons among rocks.
Dimensions
  • Registers height: 4.1cm
  • Registers diameter: 20.1cm
Styles
Ming
Xuande
Blue and White (Asia)
Marks and inscriptions
大明宣德年製 (six character mark in a double ring)
Translation
Made in the Xuande reign of the Great Ming
Transliteration
Da Ming Xuande nian zhi
Credit line
Mrs B.Z. Seligman Bequest
Object history
Similar dishes in Percival David Foundation (PDF,B.679) collection and British museum.
Subjects depicted
Dragon
Waves
Bibliographic references
  • J.G. Ayers 'The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art' Vol II1964, D241
  • Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1990-1991
  • The Seligman Collection of Oriental Art : Chinese, central Asian and Luristan bronzes, Chinese jades and sculptures, Chinese and Korean ceramics, London : Arts Council of Great Britain, 1966 320
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
FE.194-1974

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O494712/dish-unknown/
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