Gadroon bowl

The bowl is complete; a portion of the enamel around the rim has disappeared and been repainted, and there is a crack. It is circular in shape with an undulating rim. The wing is rounded and wide, and the wall slopes towards the bottom. On the reverse, it rests on a circular foot that is conical on the inside, connected to the base by a short, narrow ring; the fulcrum is domed and partially unglazed. The center is recessed and flat. The body is beige, and the object is covered with a bluish-white enamel. The enamel on the reverse is dotted with small needle holes. There are slight flaws on the inner base. There is a small hole drilled in the foot; its inner surface is free of enamel ; The decoration is molded and hand-painted in blue. The molded decoration is visible on the rim, wing, wall and base. The painted decoration is figurative, in the style of China’s Transitional period. The rim is rippled, each ripple being the extension of a long gadroon perpendicular to the rim; the radiating gadroons cover the entire face of the wing and wall to the bottom, flaring out towards the rim; they are domed on the face and concave on the reverse. The bottom is also decorated with radiating gadroons, with the exception of the center of the bottom, which is domed; the gadroons on the bottom, which are narrower, are not aligned with those on the wall. The painted decoration is on the rim, wing and base. The rim and inner edge are painted blue. A fillet, painted on the edge of the wing, delimits the wing decoration. This consists of two different motifs, arranged in alternating groups. The main decoration, on the upper and lower parts of the wing, consists of a male figure of oriental type seen from the front, draped and seated on an undulating, grassy terrace; the sides are adorned with two undulating, grassy terraces. The background decoration is encircled by a double ring bordered by concave lines arranged in a circle, at the junction of which is a pearl; outside the concave lines is a triple plant motif, and a single one at their apex. The main decoration is identical to that on the wing.