Dish with coxcomb and rock design

Object Details

• Description

  Clay: fine white porcelain.

  Glaze: transparent, thick, some orange peel effect.

  Decoration: un underglaze blue, a central landscape with rock, coxcomb, etc., and eight flower and fruit sprays in cavetto. Outside, the three friends. The identification of the plants in the cavetto is (probably): chrysanthemum, peach, rose, loquat, day lily, persimmon, blackberry lily, camellia.

• Label

  The viewer of this exceptionally large dish seems to stand within a spacious garden. An ornamental rock serves as the focal point, and plants bloom lushly on the near and far sides of a small pond or stream. The garden represents all seasons: spring primrose and narcissus join autumn cockscomb. Eight sprays of flowers and fruit circle the rim, while pine, flowering plum, and bamboo--the Three Friends of Winter--ring the outside of the dish. The landscape's similarity to those in paintings made for the court indicates that court painters sometimes provided designs for Jingdezhen decorators.

• Provenance

  To 1961

  J. T. Tai & Co., New York, New York. [1]

  From 1961

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from J. T. Tai & Co., New York, New York. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See object file, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)

  Luxury and Luminosity: Visual Culture and the Ming Court (July 3, 2004 to June 26, 2005)

  Crosscurrents in Chinese and Islamic Ceramics (March 1, 1996 to July 1, 1997)

  Chinese Ceramics (May 9, 1993 to April 17, 1995)

  Chinese Ceramics (March 15, 1982 to July 10, 1986)

  Chinese Ceramics (April 11, 1978 to September 4, 1980)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

  Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Ceramics (March 7, 1957 to January 1, 1963)

• Previous custodian or owner

  J. T. Tai & Co. (established in 1950)

• Origin

  Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer Gallery 13: Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s

• Name

  J. T. Tai & Co.

• Place

  China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen

• Topic

  Landscapes, Porcelain, Art, Fruit, Yongle reign (1403 - 1424), Chinese Art, Ceramics, Flowers, Jingdezhen ware, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes