Dish

The dish is complete; there is some missing enamel around the rim, particularly at the corners, and one break and two cracks have been repaired with iron spikes. Each crack has been consolidated with an iron spike. The dish is oval with a wavy outline. In cross-section, the wing and flange slope towards the bottom. The wall is rounded and the bottom flat. The reverse 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 a bluish-white enamel; there are burrs of enamel under the dish, near the rim. There are small enamel chips on the face of the dish, and a few small holes on the reverse. Three traces of linear and triangular pernettes are visible under the marli. The dish has one break and two cracks. This long break is surrounded by eight pairs of circular holes – two pairs also having an additional hole – which are drilled in the reverse of the dish; in six of these pairs are inserted rusty iron studs. Each crack has been consolidated with an iron spike. Made from a double iron rod, they are each inserted into a pair of small circular holes drilled in the back of the dish and held in place by a hard white paste. The ends of one of the spikes are visible on the face of the dish. The bottom shows wear marks on its support point ; The decoration is hand-painted; it has been traced (chatironné) in black and painted dark blue under glaze. The painted decoration is geometric and vegetal. It features a flower basket and compartmentalized braid. The decoration is painted on the inside of the dish, i.e. on the wing, on the upper part of the marli and on the bottom. The decoration on the wing and marli is tripartite, with two braids separated by a band. The decoration on the narrow wing features a row of broad blue lines. It rests on a thin black fillet, with dashed lines separating the bands. This row is separated from the inner braid by a wide band painted blue. The inner braid is outlined in black and painted blue. It is trimmed with three sections, all repeated alternately. One of the sections is composed of a reserved, repeated motif, the elements of which are arranged in a mirror-like fashion. The main motif, in reserve, consists of two scrolls flanking two wing-shaped quarter flowers. The flowers are adorned with radiating lines in black. The other section consists of a fish-scale section, made up of three rows of half-ovals outlined in black, with an off-center core painted blue. Between these two sections is a third, consisting of a half-flower outlined in black and painted blue. Painted at the corners of the dish, it is bordered by two blue-painted arcs, while the sides are in reserve. 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 bottom and a horizontal swollen rim; it is outlined in black and partially filled with a latticework outlined in black and painted blue; the basket’s rendering imitates rattan. From the top of the basket emerge a central half-flower flanked by two aligned leaves; these are surrounded by leafy plant stems and grapes; all these trimmings are outlined in black and painted blue, sometimes faded, with the exception of the lower leaves, whose core is adorned with a latticework painted black. The central flower acts as a dividing line between the two zones on either side of this axis: the leaves and grapes on it 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. Beneath the center of the support is a pearl; another pearl is flanked by two plant stems curved in a semicircle and topped with pearls. These elements are outlined in black and painted blue.