Dish

The dish is complete; there is some missing enamel around the rim, particularly at the corners, and a break has been repaired with iron studs. The dish has a rectangular octagonal shape with plain sides. In cross-section, the wing is almost flat, while the marli slopes 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 beige in color and covered with bluish-white enamel; there are enamel smudges under the dish, near the rim. The reverse of the dish is missing enamel. Three traces of linear and triangular pernettes are visible under the marli. There is a blue painted mark on the reverse of the dish margin: G (T). The base shows wear marks on its support. The dish has a break running the length of its width. This break is surrounded by thirteen pairs of circular holes drilled in the reverse of the dish. The dish is repaired with five iron spikes, and the trace of four others, also in iron; made from a double iron rod, these five spikes 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 four of these five studs are visible on the face of the dish; the decoration is molded and hand-painted in blue and dark blue, almost black. It features a flower basket and compartmentalized braid. The molded decoration is found on the rim, in the form of small gadroons in relief. The decoration is painted on the inside of the dish, i.e. on the wing, on the upper part of the border 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 consists of a row of broad strokes painted in black. It rests on a thin fillet in dark blue; dashes painted in sequence separate 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 two 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 a central half-flower between two scrolls flanking two wing-shaped quarter-flowers. The half-flower is painted in faded blue, while the others are decorated with blue radiating lines. The other section consists of fish scales, 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, composed of a blue-painted half-flower. It is bordered by two blue-painted bands, while the sides are in reserve. The background features a central flower basket. The basket is truncated cone-shaped, with a flat bottom and bulging rim; it is traced in blue and filled with a latticework traced in blue and painted in faded blue; the rendering of the basket imitates rattan. From the top of the basket emerges a central flower flanked by two quarter-flowers in a row, surrounded by two flowers, leafy stems and grapes. All these elements are outlined in black and painted blue, with the exception of the quarter-flowers, which are adorned with radiating lines outlined in black, while two flowers have a core made of a black-painted latticework. The central flower serves as a dividing line between the two zones on either side of this axis, whose elements are mirrored. The basket rests on a sort of ironwork-like support, consisting of a horizontal rectangular stem that links two scrolls that continue into acanthus leaves curved upwards and arranged in mirror image, each featuring three small curved plant stems with blue-painted buds. The center of the support features a plant motif pointing downwards, traced and painted in blue. The two scrolls are joined by a hanging drapery, traced in blue, painted pale blue and trimmed with a fringe traced in blue. From this drapery emerge two series of acanthus leaves, curved upwards and arranged in a mirror-like fashion, framing a double pearl. These elements are traced and painted in blue. There are various flaws in the enamel and in the decoration of the wing.