Dish

The dish is complete, except for a small chip on the rim and a small gap filled with plaster on the wall; some breaks have been repaired with metal studs. It is octagonal in shape, with a plain rim. The marli slopes inwards, with the wall curving towards the flat bottom. On the reverse, the rim slopes towards the wall, which is convex. The dish rests on a ring-shaped foot, the base of which is free of glaze. The center is recessed and flat. There are three pernette marks in a triangular pattern on the reverse, with a central mark. Some breaks have been repaired with 23 copper metal spikes, the ends of which are inserted into as many pairs of holes drilled in the reverse of the dish; one pair of holes has lost its spike; the decoration is hand-painted in polychrome blue underglaze, and red, black, green and gilding overglaze, on the front and reverse of the object. The decoration is vegetal, in the Japanese Imari style. The inner surface of the object is entirely decorated. The rim and wall are painted in blue with areas in reserve, the main ones arranged in a cross pattern. Two of these are poly-lobed and delimited by a double line painted red; the vegetal and floral decoration is painted red with black highlights, flanked by leaves outlined in black and painted green, and rests on a double terrace painted black. The other area is shaped like a baluster and features a phoenix in flight, painted red with black and green highlights, beneath a group of flowers traced in red, some painted orange and gold. Between these shapes, the blue background is adorned with gold-painted foliage and features four areas in reserve, three oval shapes and one scroll. The oval shapes feature a flower outlined in red, sometimes also painted orange. The scrolls are either decorated with a bird traced in red, or with leafy stems and flowers traced in red. The central decoration is encircled by a double ring painted blue. It consists of a pot on a terrace traced in blue and lined with oblique planks traced and painted in red, all with gold highlights. The pot is an inverted baluster with a short neck and vertical handles painted red; its surface, painted blue, is adorned with gold highlights and its center, in reserve, is decorated with motifs traced and painted red. Emerging from the pot are long leaves painted in blue with gold highlights, and numerous flowers traced in red and painted in orange and gold. The reverse wall is adorned with three long leafy stems traced and painted blue, and topped with flowers traced in red and painted orange and gold. There is a blue-painted ring at the sock, and a double painted ring at its junction with the foot. The bottom is adorned with a painted ring.