Bowl

The bowl is complete; a break has been repaired with glue and repainted. The bowl is circular in shape. In profile, the wall is slightly flared at the top and topped by a straight rim. The lower part of the wall is curved towards the bottom, which is flat. The bowl rests on a solid ring foot, whose beveled base is free of glaze. There are slight flaws in the inner glaze; the decoration almost completely covers the outer face of the bowl, as well as the inner rim and bottom. The decoration is of the Chinese or Oriental garden type and is treated in Imari. It is hand-painted in two-tone blue underglaze, then traced and painted in iron red, with gold highlights, over glaze. The braid under the inner edge is traced in blue and outlined with a fillet. It is composed of two alternately repeated elements. One element is a vegetal motif traced in red and bordered by two leaves traced and painted in blue and gold, which is set between two arcs made of a wide curved line, traced and painted in blue with gilding. The second element is a double latticework in blue. The inner base of the bowl is decorated with a leafy, flowering plant. The stem, as well as a few leaves, are traced and painted in blue with gold highlights. The flower is traced and painted in red, with gold highlights, while the leaves are painted and veined in red. Most of the gilding has been removed. On the outer wall, the decoration consists of a main scene seated on a horizontal fillet outlined in blue. The central element consists of two rocks with holes, symbols of the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, traced in blue and red, and painted in blue with gold highlights. Between and behind the two rocks, there are flowering stems, most of them traced and painted in red, although some leaves are painted in blue; some leaves are bamboo. To the left, there’s a fence with a central vertical post, traced in blue and painted in blue and red with gilding. Behind it grows a leafy stem traced and painted in blue, supporting a large flower traced and painted in red, and a long, curved leafy branch, traced and painted in blue and supporting flowers and leaves traced and painted in red. The same decoration is reproduced to the right of the rocks, but without the fence. The remaining part of the wall is occupied by a flower similar to the one painted on the inner background. The top of the bowl is covered with a brown-painted ferruginous plaster.