Dish

The dish is complete; some enamel is missing around the rim, particularly at the corners, and some breaks have been repaired with copper rods. The dish is repaired with nineteen studs. The dish has a rectangular octagonal shape with plain sides. In cross-section, the wing is almost flat, while the marli is inclined towards the bottom; it is on a lower plane than the wing. The wall is rounded and the bottom flat. The reverse side of the dish has a slightly concave center. The base of the dish is rounded. The body is pinkish-beige in color and covered with bluish-white enamel; there are enamel smudges under the dish near the rim. There are small enamel chips on the face of the dish. Three traces of linear and triangular pernettes are visible under the marli. The base shows wear marks on its support. The dish has four breaks, one of which runs the full length of the dish. This long break is surrounded by six pairs of circular holes running through the dish. The plate is repaired with nineteen copper rod studs, each inserted into a pair of circular holes drilled in the reverse of the plate. There is a mark painted in blue on the reverse of the dish’s margin: X; The decoration is molded and hand-painted in two-tone. It has been traced and painted in dark blue underglaze and red overglaze. It is of the compartmented braid and floral basket type. The molded decoration is visible on the wing. It consists of a row of small gadroons molded in relief. Painted decoration is applied on the wing, on the border near the edge, and in the center of the base. On the wing and on the border, the decoration is tripartite: a row of gadroons and a braid separated by a band. On the narrow wing, a row of pearls is painted in blue on a thin fillet, separated by a dash; these elements are outlined in blue. This row is separated from the inner braid by a wide blue band, which is painted around the inner edge of the wing. This braid is outlined in blue and painted in blue and red; it is underlined with a line. The braid is adorned with two alternately repeated motifs. One is in reserve on a blue-painted background: it consists of mirrored motifs on either side of a half-flower flanked by two scrolls, followed by quarter-flowers topped with scrolls. These flowers are adorned with red radiating lines. The other motif is a latticework drawn in red and trimmed with blue-painted pearls. These two motifs are separated by a half-flower made of red radiating lines with a blue-painted core; it is set in two blue-painted arched bands, while the sides are in reserve. The background is decorated with a flowering basket. The basket is truncated cone-shaped, with a flat bottom and a flat swollen rim; it is outlined in blue and partially filled with dashes painted in red; the basket’s rendering imitates rattan. From the top of the basket emerge a central half-flower framed by two leaves and two flowers; these are surrounded by a flower, leafy plant stems, two of which are long on the sides, and grapes. Some of the flowers and their leaves are outlined in blue and partially filled in with red radiating lines; the large central flower is painted in faded blue, as are the grapes, and features a red-painted lattice core. The curved plant stems and other leaves are outlined and painted blue. Two red tendrils emerge from the top of the basket. The basket rests on an ironwork-like support, the elements of which are arranged in a mirror-like fashion. It consists of two scrolls ending in acanthus leaves curving upwards. At the center of the support is a plant motif adorned with three pearls. These elements are traced and painted in blue, except for the core of the main motif, which is in reserve and trimmed with red-painted lines.