A JAPANESE KAKIEMON-STYLE DECAGONAL DISH

A JAPANESE KAKIEMON-STYLE DECAGONAL DISH
EDO PERIOD, 17TH CENTURY

The foliate body brightly decorated in polychrome enamels on the bright nigoshide body, with a curled-up dragon to the well and a continuous design to the cavetto depicting a minogame (flaming tortoise), two cranes, pine, prunus and bamboo; the reverse left undecorated, 22.3cm.

Provenance: from the collection of David and Margaret Mellis, Presbyterian missionaries in China, c.1900-1914.

Cf. J Ayers, O Impey, JVG Mallet, Porcelain for Palaces, The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750, p.153, no.123 for a dish with the same decoration.