Dish with design of white hawk

Dish with slightly everted foliate rim of 12 lobe units. Low foot with unglazed bearing edge. Six-character mark in underglaze blue on base: Tai Ming Seika nen sei (copy of Chinese six-character mark [see F75.8], Ta Ming Ch’eng-hua Nien Chih). One scar near center base could be a spur mark. No damage noted except for one small chip in unglazed edge of foot-rim.

Clay: fine white porcelain.

Glaze: clear with slightly oily “orange-skin” texture and soft lustre; some inclusions and a few iron-spots. An aqua tint appears where glaze collects in low areas of relief.

Decoration: molded and painted in underglaze cobalt blue. Inside is a single over-all design of a white stylized eagle or hawk (see Comment 4 re: bird’s identity) on a ground of conventionalized cloud bands and concentric wave pattern. The central bird figure with head in profile, wings slightly raised has details of plumage, etc., molded in relief. One foot, drawn up against body, is outlined in blue. The outline, the eye and details of the perching claw are also in underglaze blue. The edges of the cloud bands are molded in relief. In clouds and waves, the rich blue wash is applied unevenly with many gradations of color depth. Outside, in underglaze blue, four conventionalized flower and scroll motifs alternate with small curvilinear motifs. A single line defines the foliate edge; there is a single ring just above the foot, a double band on foot, a single ring on base near foot-rim. In the manner of the Japanese versions of Chinese marks, the Chinese characters are excuted loosely and spread out.