A RARE CHINESE UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND RED POWDER BLUE-GROUND DISH

KANGXI 1662-1722

Painted to the centre with a travelling monk carrying a large bundle and a fly whisk over his shoulder on a pole, the figure reserved on a mottled powder blue ground, with two large underglaze blue sprays of bamboo to the reverse, the base with a flowerhead contained in a double ring, 26.4cm.

The dish probably depicts the warrior monk Lu Zhishen from The Water Margin.

Cf. C J A Jörg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, pp.127-128, no.132 for a dish with the same design; see also Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, pp.120-121, no.82 for a comparable Kangxi dish painted in underglaze blue and red with a kneeling monk against a powder blue ground.