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

Dish

Plate
1550-1642 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The flange, well and a portion of the centre are covered with six panels and ribboned dividers with geometric upper bands. Flower sprays with a bird and various symbols with ribbons alternate inside the panels. The six-bracket Kraak frame surrounds a galloping deer on a rocky mound by the end of a balustrade with a lotus finial. Clouds hang from the top with tufts of grass. The outside is covered with six lobed panels with a leafy peach, and their dividers have the usual comma design. The dish is warped and has a dip in the centre. The whole piece looks very Chinese.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleDish (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Fritware, painted in 2 blues and black
Brief description
Plate, fritware painted in underglaze blue and black, Iran, Safavid, 1550-1642
Physical description
The flange, well and a portion of the centre are covered with six panels and ribboned dividers with geometric upper bands. Flower sprays with a bird and various symbols with ribbons alternate inside the panels. The six-bracket Kraak frame surrounds a galloping deer on a rocky mound by the end of a balustrade with a lotus finial. Clouds hang from the top with tufts of grass. The outside is covered with six lobed panels with a leafy peach, and their dividers have the usual comma design. The dish is warped and has a dip in the centre. The whole piece looks very Chinese.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.1cm
  • Width: 26.8cm
  • Base width: 13.8cm
Style
Historical context
From the last quarter of the 16th until mid 17th century Chinese dishes with petal panels were the common export wares. The striking effect of the new style of decoration made the design popular not only with the Persian potter but also across western Europe. The design originated in the Tang dynasty when the flattened petals of the lotus decorated Buddhist paintings, stone tiles and various artefacts. The outline was also used on Central Asian slip-painted wares and possibly Sultanabad dishes. The occasional late Yuan dish brings the design forward in time and as a single unit it is used in bands of panels on the shoulder or the base of 15th century Chinese ewers and vases. Plain dividers between the panels first appear on jars around 1500 and more often during the Jiajing rule. The panels are eventually enhanced with jewel symbols and flowers when used as a framing device on Kraak dishes.

In addition to the regular demands of the Asian market, specific orders, first from the Portuguese then the Dutch, called for an increased production of large dishes and eventually new shapes. At this stage these striking bands of petal panels reappear and are copied with gusto by the Persian potter along with other Chinese ornaments. These panels vary in number but they are usually six or eight according to the size of the dish. Flowers, fruit, birds and sacred emblems are adopted as decorations and the simplified leafy peach motif becomes especially popular in both China and Persia. In the 17th century Persian potters reinterpret the human figures copied from Chinese models in a comic manner.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Yolande Crowe, Persian and China, Safavid Blue and White Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum 1501-1738, Switzerland 2002, ISBN 0-9538196-1-2, Worldwide distribution by Thames & Hudson, p. 64.
Collection
Accession number
483-1878

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Record createdMarch 13, 2009
Record URL
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