Description

Chinese porcelain blue and white dish painted with two sages standing beside an overhanging pine tree in a cloudy mountain setting all within double rings, the gently rising flat upturned lipped rim decorated with roundels of alternating prunus blossom on a blue ground and cross design, the underside with four stylised pearls.

8 3/8 inches, 21.2 cm diameter.

Four-character mark of Tianqi within a double ring and of the period, 1621-1627.

Provenance & Additional Information

  • From a Japanese private collection.
  • Included by Marchant in their exhibition of Kosometsuke & Shonzui, 2024, no. 7, pp. 28/29.
  • A similar dish was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Two Hundred Years of Chinese Porcelain, 1522-1722, 1998, no. 25, p. 42, where it notes, “Despite the emperor’s mark, the style of this piece strongly suggests that its destination is Japan”.
  • A dish of similar subject with similar roundels and pomegranates on the border, also Tianqi mark and period, is illustrated by Masahiko Kawahara in Ko-sometsuke, Monochrome Section, no. 579, p. 147, where the author also illustrates another dish with the same border and two seated figures, Tianqi mark and period, no. 580, p. 147.
  • A smaller dish, Tianqi mark and period, with only six roundels on the border, was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Ming Porcelain for the Japanese Market, Ko-sometsuke and Ko-akai, 2008, no. 25, pp. 52/3.

Condition

Overall in good condition, mushukui, firing imperfections, kiln grits to the base.

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