Porcelain dish painted in underglaze blue with yellow glaze, China, Ming dynasty, Zhengde reign period and mark (1506-21). Jingdezhen, China. Diameter: 29.5 cm. Maxwell Brownjohn Bequest. Museum number: C.50-1965. Victoria & Albert Museum © V&A Images

Porcelain dish painted in underglaze blue on a yellow ground with a pomegranate flowers branch in the central medallion and sprays of peach, pomegranate, cherry and another unidentified fuit around it. Four styled lotus sprays are painted on the outside. A six-character inperial mark in a double ring is on the base. 

This dish was made at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen in southern China during the Zhengde reign (1506-21). Official wares or guan yao were produced in workshops supervised by imperial officers and were destined to the court in Beijing.

This kind of floral composition, painted in underglaze blue against a yellow glazed ground, was particularly popular from the Xuande (1426-35) to the Jiajing period (1522-66). In this example the central medallion contains a branch of pomegranate flowers; the fruit, called shiliu in Chinese, is a symbol of abundance and carries the wish to have many sons.

Bibliographic References: Ayesr, John. Far Eastern ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1980. pl 154 (monochrome plates) ISBN 0856670766