Gadroon dish

The dish is complete; a portion of the enamel around the rim has disappeared, and it has a break that was repaired with iron studs. It is circular in shape, with an undulating rim. The wing is rounded and wide, and the wall slopes towards the bottom; the bottom is flat. On the reverse, the dish rests on a circular foot with a bearing on the inside, connected to the bottom by a short constricted ring; the fulcrum is flat and unglazed. The center is recessed and flat. The body is beige, and the object is covered with a bluish-white enamel. There are three pernette marks arranged in a triangle on the reverse. There is a blue-painted mark below the bottom: 17. There are slight flaws in the enamel on the inner bottom. The break has been repaired with six iron studs on the reverse and one on the inner base, each inserted in a pair of small holes drilled in the wall and on the base; the decoration is molded and hand-painted in blue. The molded decoration is visible on the rim, wing, wall and bottom. The painted decoration is figurative, in the style of the Transitional period of China. The rim has an undulating contour, each undulation being the extension of a wide gadroon perpendicular to the rim; the radiating gadroons cover the entire face of the wing and the wall to the bottom, flaring out towards the rim; they are domed on the face and concave on the reverse. The bottom is flat. The painted decoration is on the rim, wing and base; it has been traced in dark blue and painted in dark and pale blue. The rim and inner edge are painted blue. A wavy fillet, painted on the edge of the wing and near the bottom, delimits the wing’s decoration. Each godron consists of a long vertical stem ending in a flower, probably a tulip, and surrounded by scrolls. The main decoration on the background is encircled by a nine-sided geometric figure made of a double line; it consists of an oriental-style male figure seen from the front, draped and standing on an undulating, grassy terrace, between two stylized rocks; his arm stretched upwards, he holds a branch in his hand. He appears to be protected by the foliage of a tree.