Dish

Large dish with everted rim, upright glazed lip, deep cavetto, wide flat bottom slightly domed in the center, on low, beveled, unglazed footrim.
Clay: greyish-brown stoneware; long firing crack running from rim to center; another short firing crack on rim, two on footrim.
Glaze: transparent ivory-grey tone; possibly a coating of white slip under the glaze. Glaze cut away from upright edge of rim. Some pinholes and fine wear scratches on the surface. Base entirely covered by chocolate-brown slip brushed concentrically, leaving some brush marks.
Decoration: in underglaze cobalt, deep grayish-blue in color, executed with thick brush strokes without outlining, using some fine-lined fill details and some secondary lines on the cavetto vinescroll. In the bottom is a peony spray showing the blossom in profile and “cross-section,” rising on a leafy stem and surrounded by three clusters of four-pointed leaves. Enclosing the floral spray is a band demarcated by two pairs of concentric circles, containing ten complete scalloped petals (or waves) and one abbreviated one interspersed with hooked lines, leaning in a counter-clockwise direction. In the cavetto, also bordered above by a pair of concentric circles, five full-face six-petaled flowers alternate with vinescrolls whose stems are attached alternately to the upper or lower edge of the band. On the everted rim is a conventional classic scroll. On the exterior are fourteen lotus panels (and one abbreviated one) enclosing pendant scrolls.
Mark: none