Saucer

The saucer is whole; two cracks have been repaired with metal spikes. It is circular in shape, with a sloping wall, a straight rim and a straight base in line with the wall. The foot is milled and the bottom is recessed and flat. The outer wall and underside of the base are cracked all over. There is a hand-painted number in gold on the bottom of the saucer: 1291. There are two cracks on the bottom of the saucer, one stretching all the way to the wall. There are two pairs of circular holes drilled on the outer wall and bottom, one of which still holds a copper-metal repair spike ; The decoration covers almost the entire inner face of the saucer, and is divided into two areas: the inner wall and bottom. It is hand-painted in blue underglaze, with polychrome and gold highlights over the glaze. It is of the landscape type. The decoration covering the entire inner wall is found in a wide band delimited at the top and base by a thin line painted in blue, and surmounted by a wide line painted in gold below the inner edge. The decoration is divided into two alternating pairs, the elements of each pair being identical. Each pair is framed by a large vertical scroll, slightly curved and folded at the base. The scrolls are traced in blue; the background is filled with orange-red and adorned with three leafy flowers with curving branches, all traced in red. The two flowers at the ends are in reserve, with gold highlights; their leaves are adorned with fine lines painted red. The central flower is covered in gold, with small areas in reserve. The branches are covered in gold. One of the pairs features a multi-lobed medallion in red, with cobalt and gold highlights. It frames a bird painted in red and gold. On either side of this medallion, the background is painted gold, with leafy branches in reserve; they are traced in red, with green highlights. The other pair features a background painted dark blue, with two superimposed flowers in reserve in the center, outlined in red. The upper flower, a half-flower in fact, features gold highlights. To the left of center is a half-flower traced in red with a slight gold highlight. The blue background is also covered with leafy branches traced and painted in gold. The central decoration is encircled by a ring made of a fine line painted in blue and enhanced with gold. The main scene is painted in polychrome. It features a bird painted in profile to the left, in red, purple and gold, clinging to a bare branch outlined in red. The branch rests on a lobed, hollowed-out mass in the center, probably a rock from the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, painted in dark blue with gold foliage. From this mass emerges foliage outlined in black with green and black highlights. To the right is another angular mass, hollowed out in the center, probably a cliff. Emerging from it is a pine trunk traced in red and painted gold, and its thorns, in oval-shaped groups, are traced in black with green highlights. From this cliff, leafy, flowering branches also emerge, traced in red with gold highlights. The lower part of the scene is adorned with gold-painted scrolls, surrounding a mass painted dark blue with gold foliage. The top of the saucer rim is covered with a gold fillet.