Ceramic dish, glazed and painted in three blues with figural decoration in the style between Kraak andTransitional

Large ceramic dish decorated in three blues. A band of three rotating scenes fills the bracketed flange and well. At the top a servant walks towards his hatted master with a small figure at his feet, both holding a long implement. On both sides an official robed figure stands with a fan beside a barelegged servant. The lower scenes includes a tiny hatted figure and repeats the other three dividing settings of elongated mounds, rocks, stripes and trees, one with a white trunk. In the centre the same robed official with a long implement and fan, appears to be carried by two barelegged small attendants with a balustrade and plant-like rocks on either side. The upper half acts as a receding island with trees, pagoda and flag. Part of this is whimsically reflected below narrow clouds. The three peach branches on the outer well are separated by a bird in flight and there are odd lines and stars on the outer flange. Three tassels mark the inner base.

Historical significance: This dish reflects the new Chinese Transitional style of decoration where freer spacing and brushwork appear from the early 1630s. It also shows variations on the peach motif and the popular Chinese design of horizontal clouds used as a device for separating one scene from the next, both adopted and adapted by Persian potters.

Designs used by the Persian potter during the reign of Shah Abbas II (1642-1666) were echoes of early Wanli Kraak wares with either plain wells or roundels adapted to the well. An important group of large- and medium-sized dishes consists of recognizable lake scenes with pagodas. The painting is sketchy and island and boat designs or rounded rock formations decorate the flange. New motifs include variations on the peach. Freer spacing and brushwork appear from the early 1630s. After the court had closed down the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen in 1608 the kilns provided for a new clientele of rich merchants using different themes away from court conventions. A popular Chinese design of horizontal clouds used as a device for separating one scene from the next, was immediately taken over by the Persian potter and transformed in different ways.

This is a ceramic dish painted in three blues and made in Iran for the European export market. Its decoration reflects the new Chinese Transitionalstyle with free spacing and brushwork. A band of three rotating scenes fills the bracketed flange and well. At the top a servant walks towards his hatted master with a small figure at his feet. On both sides an official robed figure stands with a fan beside a barelegged servant. The lower scene includes a tiny hatted figure and repeats the other three dividing settings of elongated mounds, rocks, stripes and trees, one with a white trunk. In the centre the same robed official with a long implement and fan, appears to be carried two barelegged small attendants with a balustrade and plank-like rocks on either side. The upper half acts as a receding island with trees, pagoda and flag.

443-1878