Bowl

The bowl is complete. The bowl is circular in shape. In profile, it has a slightly flared wall 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. The decoration covers the outside of the bowl, as well as the inside 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 plant motif traced and painted in red, which is set between two arcs made of a wide curved line, traced and painted in blue with gold. The second element is a double latticework with spikes traced in red. The inner base of the bowl is decorated with a leafy, flowering plant. The stem, as well as some 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. On the outer wall, the decoration consists of a main scene seated on an undulating terrace traced in blue and painted in faded red, with grasslands traced in red. The central element is a large rock with a hole in it, symbolizing the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, drawn and painted in blue with gold highlights. Behind the boulder are flowering stems, most of them traced and painted red, although a few leaves are painted blue with gold highlights. To the left is a fence with three vertical posts, traced in blue and painted in blue and red with gilding; the panels are adorned with a central poly-lobed opening. Behind it grows a leafy stem traced and painted in blue, supporting a large flower traced and painted in red with gilding, and a long curved leafy branch, traced and painted in blue and supporting a flower and leaves traced and painted in red. The same decoration is reproduced on the right-hand side of the rock, without the fence, but with a pomegranate on the stem. 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 coating.