DIMENSIONS

Diameter: 8 ¾ inches

 

PROVENANCE

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 1999

 

CATALOGUE NOTES

A pair of blue and white plates, of similar form, each of broad saucer-shape with wide, flat center and sloped expanding cavetto rising to a straight, curved lip rim. Each plate rests upon a short footrim and has a slightly recessed underfoot. The plates are similarly decorated: the interior of each has a large, composite flower head reserve, made up of a central medallion filled with a rabbit in an outdoor setting, among rockeries and flowering plants, and with part of a balustrade fence visible in the background. Around this medallion are six petal-form reserves, each filled with a different scene, including: birds in flowering branches; a phoenix perched beneath a flowering peony; cranes flying above a pine tree, under which are two deer; a feline staring overhead at a flying bird; and a peacock standing beneath a flowering tree. The areas between the barbed edges of the petal reserves are filled with flower heads and leaves. Above this, along the rim, is a narrow band of alternating phoenix and flower medallions separated by rectangular reserves filled with varying aquatic plants and sea creatures. The underside of each plate is decorated with three floral sprigs along the sides, and in the center, with a conch shell within double rings. The decoration is all finely drawn in deep and vibrant underglaze cobalt blue upon a luminous white ground.