Dish thumbnail 1
Dish thumbnail 2
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images
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Dish

1700-1710 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
The design of a dragon among clouds is conceived so that the dragon's flight continues over the rim of the dish. On the base is a lucky emblem. This was a common device added by potters who didn't know how to write properly. The dish is of a type that was widely exported in a range of qualities to other Asian countries and to Europe.

Time
This dish was made during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). The pattern recurs on later export wares, including examples salvaged from shipwrecks of mid-18th-century date. It was also copied at several English potteries.

Materials & Making
This dish was made from hard-paste porcelain at one of the kilns in the huge porcelain manufacturing centre of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province in central southern China. Decoration in cobalt blue painted under the glaze was a technique commonly used at Jingdezhen from the 14th century onwards. It was a relatively easy way of decorating porcelain and was cheaper than using coloured enamels over the glaze.

Object details

Object type
Materials and techniques
Porcelain, with cobalt blue underglaze
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 21.3cm
Dimensions checked: Registered Description; 01/01/1998 by KN
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Mark of a lucky emblem on the back
Gallery label
(27/03/2003)
British Galleries:
CHINESE PORCELAIN and its imitations

English factories copied a vast number of designs from Chinese imports. The design on this Bow mug was probably taken from a Chinese dish similar to the one displayed here. Factories also copied the designs of their English rivals. The design on the Lowestoft jug may have been based on an English copy of a Chinese design.
Credit line
Orchardson Gift
Object history
Made at the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi Province, China
Subject depicted
Summary
Object Type
The design of a dragon among clouds is conceived so that the dragon's flight continues over the rim of the dish. On the base is a lucky emblem. This was a common device added by potters who didn't know how to write properly. The dish is of a type that was widely exported in a range of qualities to other Asian countries and to Europe.

Time
This dish was made during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). The pattern recurs on later export wares, including examples salvaged from shipwrecks of mid-18th-century date. It was also copied at several English potteries.

Materials & Making
This dish was made from hard-paste porcelain at one of the kilns in the huge porcelain manufacturing centre of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province in central southern China. Decoration in cobalt blue painted under the glaze was a technique commonly used at Jingdezhen from the 14th century onwards. It was a relatively easy way of decorating porcelain and was cheaper than using coloured enamels over the glaze.
Bibliographic reference
Young, Hilary. English Porcelain, 1745-95. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1999. 229p., ill. ISBN 1851772820.
Collection
Accession number
C.325-1916

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Record createdDecember 2, 2002
Record URL
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