Deep dish

The deep dish is complete; a chip is missing from the foot, and a break has been repaired with iron studs. The dish is oval in shape, with an undulating rim. In cross-section, the rim is flared, the wall is sloping with a rounded base, and the bottom is flat. The base is recessed and rests on a wide oval foot with concave sides, whose base is unglazed. The body is pinkish-beige in color and covered with a bluish-white glaze. There are enamel smudges under the dish, near the rim. Three traces of linear, triangular beads are visible on the outer wall. The foot has a pair of circular holes, with the inner wall covered in enamel; one of the holes is broken. There is a blue-painted mark on the outer wall, consisting of two superimposed letters: A. R. The dish has a crack and a break running through it. The break is surrounded by seven pairs of circular holes drilled in the reverse of the dish. The dish is repaired with six rusty iron studs; made from an iron rod, these studs are each inserted into a pair of small holes and held in place by a hard white paste; the decoration is molded and hand-painted in blue. The molded decoration can be seen on the wall, with rounded ribs at the corners. The painted decoration has been traced in dark blue and painted in blue underglaze. It is of the compartmented braid and floral basket type. The decoration is painted on the wing and in the center of the base, as well as on the outer wall. The wing is decorated with a complex pattern traced and painted in blue: it consists of a wide braid interspersed with alternating repeated motifs. It is adorned with two alternately repeated motifs. One is in reserve on a blue-painted background: it consists of mirrored elements, i.e. two wing-shaped quarter-flowers surrounded by two scrolls followed by flower petals. The quarter-flowers are adorned with blue radiating lines. Between the two flowers is a large sphere decorated with a beaded lattice. It is bordered by two plant motifs, and at its base hangs a large pearl, painted in faded blue and trimmed with plant motifs. From the base of the band hangs a garland of flowers: a central flower bordered by two flowers, painted in faded blue, and leaves, painted in blue. At the inner ends of the dish, on either side of the ends of the garland, hang a pendeloque of plants and pearls. The other motif is a latticework of pearls, bordered by two arched bands painted blue, while the outer sides are in reserve. This trellis is closed at the base by two scrolls painted pale blue, each with acanthus leaves at one end and ending in an oval with a pearl trellis at the other. This oval is topped with a rhombus and trimmed with various plant motifs on the sides and base, all painted blue. One of the motifs has run into the enamel. The central motif, at the center of the dish, consists of a wicker basket filled with flowers. The basket is truncated cone-shaped, with a flat, swollen base and a horizontal, swollen rim; it is traced in dark blue and partially filled with a latticework traced in blue and painted in faded blue; the basket’s rendering imitates rattan. From the top of the basket emerges a central flower flanked by two flowers in a row; they are surrounded by leafy plant stems and grapes; all these trimmings are traced in dark blue and painted in blue, sometimes faded, with the exception of the central flower, whose core is adorned with a latticework painted in dark blue. The central flower acts as a dividing line between the two zones on either side of this axis: the leaves and grapes it contains are arranged in a mirror-like fashion on either side of this axis. The central flower is seen from three-quarters up, while the adjacent flowers are seen from the front. The basket rests on a sort of ironwork-like support, the elements of which are arranged in a mirror-like fashion. It consists of two series of double acanthus leaves curved upwards and linked by a semicircular arch. Under the center of the support is a pearl; another pearl, flanked by two curved plant stems with pearls, hangs below the support. These elements are outlined in dark blue and painted blue. The outer wall is decorated on its four main sides with four horizontal bands, knotted at the center and painted blue.