Dish. Porcelain with impressed decoration and celadon glaze. Longquan ware 龍泉窯. Longquan region, Zhejiang province 浙江省, 龍泉地區. Yuan dynasty, about AD 1300–1368. PDF A220. British Museum © Trustees of the British Museum

Height: 97 mm. Diameter: 426 mm. Longquan ware porcelain dish with fluted rim. Impressed peony spray in centre on which superimposed moulded fish. Pale grey body covered with thick grey-green glaze. Unglazed ring on base. 

Potters produced ceramics of various qualities at Longquan. This dish is perhaps typical of those large dishes made for export to South-east Asia and the Middle East. In the centre of this dish is an impressed peony flower with the front half of a moulded fish on top beneath the glaze. Its other tail half is applied under the glaze to the base. Similar examples may be found in the Topkapi Saray in Istanbul and in the Ardabil Shrine in Iran. There are also related dishes on the Shinan shipwreck dateable to AD 1323. 

Acquisition notes: Margaret Medley 1977 records: Acquired in 1963

Bibliographic reference: Medley, Margaret, Volume 7: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 7 of 12, Tokyo, Kodansha ltd, 1975

Medley, Margaret, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon 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, 1977 

Pierson, Stacey, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon 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, 1997