From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a good Ming Dynasty kraakware dish, late Wanli Period circa 1600-1620, of well-known and documented form, executed in Border VIII style with a central bird some scholars opine is either a magpie or a duck, sitting upon a lotus pond outcropping and encircled by a ten-point buddhist star, further encircled by ten ogival panels of buddhist symbols in the outer border, all executed in a slightly greyish blue on a barbed-form dish with slightly upturned lip.
This piece is a good example of a classic Ming kraakware dish exhibiting all the indicia of authenticity that one wants to see on such pieces. This includes amongst other things, fused sand grit adhering to the footrim, caused by the fact these dishes were usually sand-fired resting on their bases. There are also radiating lines on the base known as "chatter marks," caused by the potter dragging his finishing tool across the leather-hard porcelain paste, which would often "catch" in a stacatto fashion like a playing card hitting the spokes of a rotating bicycle wheel, causing these radiating lines. Rinaldi shows several nearly identical examples in Kraak Porcelain, A Moment in the History of Trade, on pages 109-111. This is also a good piece for use as a study item to train one's eye against the onslaught of Ming fakes that seem to predominate on the internet.
Size and Condition: 8 inches in diameter, 1 1/4 inch deep, 2-3 minor rim frits, essentially perfect. (Please forgive our photography on one of the reverse photos: We see we captured 2 strands of pet fur on photo #7 at the 6 o'clock position that might look like a hairline crack to some, but it's not. Normally we would retake the shot, but it's very difficult to get the angle and lighting correct to capture the chatter marks well, which we did here. We promise to mail the dish without the fur :)

Not on View At gallery. Will be Shipped from Texas