Zhangzhou ware bowl with design of dragons and plants

Bowl with everted flattened rim.
Clay: porcelain
Glaze: opaque white, cobalt-tinted blue, and clear glazes
Decoration: in white slip and cobalt and iron pigments, of a pair of dragons chasing a flaming pearl amidst clouds in the bottom, with two alternating plant motifs around the cavetto, and key-fret pattern on the rim.

Historical period(s)
Ming dynasty, late 16th-early 17th century
Medium
Porcelain with opaque white and cobalt-blue glazes and iron and cobalt pigments and white slip under clear glaze
Style
Zhangzhou ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 10.4 x 40.7 cm (4 1/8 x 16 in)
Geography
China, Fujian province, Zhangzhou kilns
Credit Line
Purchase — Rosalind, Sidney, and Stephen Glazer Memorial Fund for Chinese Ceramics
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F2006.6a-d
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Dish

Keywords
China, dragon, Japan, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), porcelain, swastika, Zhangzhou ware
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Description

Bowl with everted flattened rim.
Clay: porcelain
Glaze: opaque white, cobalt-tinted blue, and clear glazes
Decoration: in white slip and cobalt and iron pigments, of a pair of dragons chasing a flaming pearl amidst clouds in the bottom, with two alternating plant motifs around the cavetto, and key-fret pattern on the rim.

Published References
  • Sumarah Adhyatman. Zhangzhou (Swatow) Ceramics: Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries Found in Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia. .
  • Seikado Bunko Art Museum. Seikado zo Gosu akae meihin zuroku [Swatow Wares from the Seikado Collection]. Tokyo. .
  • Saito Kikutaro. Gosu aka-e, nankin aka-e [Gosu Polychrome and Nanjing Polychrome]. Toji taikei, vol. 45 Tokyo. .
  • Regina Krahl. Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul: A Complete Catalogue. 3 vols New York and London. vol. 2.
  • Nezu Institute of Fine Arts. Kanan no yakimono: Ki-Seto, Oribe, Aode Ko-Kutani no genryu wo motomete [Ceramics of South China: Identifying the Origins of Yellow Seto, Oribe, and Aode Ko-Kutani Wares]. Kansho Shirizu, vol. 1 Tokyo. .
  • Idemitsu Museum of Arts. Ozara no jidai ten: Utage no utsuwa [The Age of Oversized Dishes and Banqueting in Japan]. Exh. cat. Tokyo. .
  • Hessel Miedema. Swatow: Catalogus. Leeuwarden. .
  • Barbara V. Harrisson. Later Ceramics in South-East Asia: Oxford in Asia Studies in Ceramics. Oxford in Asia Studies in Ceramics Kuala Lumpur. .
  • Barbara V. Harrisson. Swatow in Het Princessehof: The Analysis of a Museum Collection of Chinese Trade Wares from Indonesia. Leeuwarden. .
  • Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum. Gosu aka-e, gosu sometsuke, mochibana-de: Suwatou uea no sekai [Swatow Ware]. Seto. .
  • Louise Allison Cort. Letter to the Editor., October, 2007. pp. 5-6.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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