Dimensions: Height 11 cm Wide 36 cm Depth 36 cm
Weight: 1447 grams

The deep, rounded sides rising from a short foot to a slightly everted rim, painted in underglaze cobalt blue with a central panel of birds amidst flowering peony and chrysanthemum, encircled by a band of lappet-shaped cartouches containing auspicious emblems, scholarly objects, and floral sprays, separated by geometric and diaper grounds. The reverse with stylised floral sprays and a single ring around the foot.

The dish is characteristic of transitional Ming wares made for both domestic and export markets, combining auspicious motifs with lively naturalistic scenes. The rich cobalt, with its ‘heaped and piled’ effect, displays the painterly freedom that became a hallmark of early 17th-century Jingdezhen porcelain.

Comparisons:
– A related blue and white dish with similar segmented border, dated to the late Wanli period (1573–1620), is in the collection of the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul.
– Compare also with an example from the Butler Family Collection of Chinese Porcelain, published in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Porcelain from the Butler Family Collection, London 1990.