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Saucer dish

Dateca. 1730

OriginAsia, China, Jingdezhen

MediumPorcelain, hard-paste

DimensionsOD: 8"; OH: 1 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1968-54

DescriptionA deep saucer dish with a short foot ring, decorated on the interior in underglaze blue and overglaze red and gold with a central scene of a large chrysanthemum, rocks, bamboo shoots and a three-section Chinese trellis fence. The edge is decorated with a 1/4 inch blue trellis border and four reserves holding blue and red flower sprays. The exterior of the dish is decorated with two opposing stylized prunus sprigs painted in blue with red buds. The underside of the dish and the interior of the foot ring are unglazed (very rare according to David Howard in notes found in file, "never seen before 1725-30".

Label TextIn the 1600s, the Dutch East India Company had the largest European trade with China. Dutch tastes thus shaped the look of export porcelain. The tumultuous period of transition from the Ming to Qing Dynasties led in 1657 to destruction of the kilns at Jingdezhen Eager to continue supplying their customers with porcelain, the Dutch negotiated with Japan. In 1659, the first Dutch cargo ship left the port of Imari with porcelain from kilns at Arita. This collaboration changed the look of export porcelain, for by the time Chinese renewed European trade in 1683, expectations had changed. The Chinese therefore began imitating porcelain produced at Arita, copying the Japanese combination of underglaze blue, iron-red, and gilding. European manufacturers later followed suit. All porcelain decorated with these colors came to be known by the name of the Japanese port it was originally shipped from, Imari.

Though little Japanese Imari came to colonial America, many Chinese Imari-style porcelain pieces arrived in the 18th century. Inventoried as “red and white china,” Imari-style wares were popular from about 1705 until the 1730s.

ProvenanceJ.A. Lloyd Hyde

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