Dish
Category
Ceramics
Date
1700 - 1710
Materials
Porcelain, underglaze cobalt blue, overglaze polychrome enamels
Measurements
60 mm (Height); 386 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Jingdezhen
Order this imageCollection
Melford Hall, Suffolk
NT 926298
Summary
Large dish, porcelain, of saucer shape, underside with an unglazed channelled foot-ring, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China, 1700-10; decorated in underglaze cobalt blue and transparent polychrome (famille verte) enamels, the centre painted with a mythical phoenix (fenghuang) flying above a mythical beast (qilin) on a garden terrace with parasol trees (wutong) at right, around the rim are eight reserved panels alternating with fabulous animals or groups of the baigu (Hundred Antiquities), the reverse with three flower sprays on the white ground; marked on the base with a be—ribboned lozenge within a double circle.
Full description
In Chinese culture, the parasol tree (wutong)—associated with the hibiscus family and symbolising the female element, yin—was thought to be the only tree on which a phoenix would alight. The channelled or double foot-ring is usually found on large early Kangxi dishes and its purpose has not been convincingly identified, perhaps such dishes were designed to sit securely when raised on separate porcelain stands. The early Chinese porcelains at Melford Hall may have been acquired by the previous owners, the Cordell and Firebrace families, whose portraits also survive in the Hyde Parker Collection, or after 1786 by a member of the Hyde Parker family.
Provenance
Part of the Hyde Parker Collection, and by descent to Sir Richard Hyde Parker 12 Bt.