Bowl

The bowl is complete. The bowl is circular, with a flared rim and plain rim, and a sloping wall curving towards the flat bottom. On the reverse, it rests on a massive ring-shaped foot, whose beveled base is free of glaze. The bottom is recessed and flat; the decoration covers the inside of the bowl, i.e. 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 flower, traced and painted in red, and bordered by two leaves, traced and painted in blue with gilding; it is set between two arcs-de-circle made of a wide curved line, traced and painted in blue. The second element is a double latticework in blue. The inner background is encircled by a ring traced in blue, and is composed of a scene whose central element consists of a large rock with holes, symbolizing the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, traced and painted in blue with gold highlights, and whose center is painted in faded red; it rests on a terrace traced and painted in blue with grasslands traced in gold. To the left of the rock is a fence with a vertical post; it is traced in blue and painted in blue and red, while the panels are adorned with vertical lines traced in red. On either side of the rock rise leafy branches traced and painted in blue, most of whose leaves are traced and painted in red, sometimes with veins, although some leaves are in blue with gilding; some leaves appear to be bamboo. At the top of the scene hangs a large flower traced and painted in red with gilding, from a leafy stem painted and traced in blue with gilding; some leaves are traced in red with veins. The top of the bowl is covered with a brown-painted ferruginous plaster.