Dish. Porcelain with moulded and incised designs, transparent and copper-red glazes. Ming dynasty, Yongle period, AD 1403–24.
Dish. Porcelain with moulded and incised designs, transparent and copper-red glazes. Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province江西省, 景德鎮. Ming dynasty, Yongle period, AD 1403–24. On loan from Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. PDF 560 © Trustees of the British Museum
Height: 43 mm. Diameter: 197 mm. Porcelain dish with rounded sides and everted rim. The dish has copper red glaze, creeping away from the rim too reveal a white body. There are three incised clouds in the centre, with moulded anhua dragons.
‘Sacrificial’, fresh or deep red monochrome-glazed porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande era represents the peak of technical achievement at Jingdezhen. As vessels ordered for ritual use by the early fifteenth century Ming emperors, they enjoy a status above that of other porcelains. The glaze has ‘crept’ at the rim of the dish to reveal the pure whiteness of the porcelain body. The glassy glaze is covered in tiny pin prick holes like skin pores and the colour possesses an incredible powdery depth, yielding layer upon layer of strong red shades of colour. In the cavetto is a design of dragons chasing flaming pearls.
Bibliographic reference: Medley, Margaret, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Ch'ing Monochrome in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1973
Scott, Rosemary, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1989