Dish

Object Details

• Description

  Large dish, thickly potted, with narrow everted rim, deep cavetto, flat center over flat base, and low rounded foot.

  Clay: stoneware; dense, smooth, light grayish-buff.

  Glaze: thin, high-fired, transparent, low luster, over white slip. Thin light-brown translucent glaze brushed unevenly onto foot. Foot rim unglazed. Base wiped counter-clockwise with thin glaze wash marked with striations.

  Decoration: Painted in underglaze cobalt blue on white slip. Central design is of two fish facing in opposite directions and ventrally opposed among water weeds. This is framed by a narrow band within double lines, containing six spaced motifs -- three cloud scrolls alternating with three six-petal flowers and scrolls. Cavetto has eight peony flowers alternating with sprays of spiky leaves. Although interrupted, the impression is of a continuous scroll. Exterior of cavetto, lotus petal panels containing pendant scroll.

  Mark: none.

• Provenance

  To 1987

  Mrs. A.D. Worthington, Vienna, Virginia, acquired in Jakarta, to 1987 [1]

  From 1987

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Mrs. A.D. Worthington in 1987

  Notes:

  [1] According to Mrs. Worthington, when she purchased the object in Jakarta, Indonesia, she was told that it had come from Sulawesi (see Curatorial Note 6, Louise Cort, May 12, 2004, in object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Vietnamese Ceramics from the Red River Delta (July 10, 2005 to November 15, 2009)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mrs. A.D. Worthington

• Origin

  Red River Delta kilns, Hai Duong province, Vietnam

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• On View

  Freer East Corridor: Looking Out, Looking In: The Art of Late Imperial China

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1400s

• Name

  Worthington, A.D.

• Place

  Hai Duong province, Vietnam, Red River Delta kilns

• Topic

  Art, Peony, Carp, Later Le dynasty (1428 - 1527), Stoneware, Fishes, Cloud, Southeast Asian Art, Flowers, Lotus

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)

• On View

  Yes