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Dishes of saucer shape, the glazed base with kiln grit. On the interior in red, green, turquoise and black enamels, a small central medallion with a qilin amidst flames, encircled by four oval medallions with phoenixes alternating with peonies on a ground of scattered leaves. The well divided into eight radial segments comprising bracket-lobed medallions with flower sprays on a ground of leaves and flowerheads or a ground of spirals and flowerheads. The exterior with a band and scrawls.
The vertical bars suggest panelling on this dish, a decorative device that is less often seen on polychrome wares. The style of painting with the sketchily rendered qilin and phoenixes as well as the bold peonies is very distinctive and the red colour very dominant. The qilin and the phoenixes, both rendered with a few strokes in red outlines and a strong turquoise, are together with the dragon and the tortoise known in Chinese mythology as the siling (four supernatural creatures). The qilin combines the head of a dragon, the body of a deer and the tail of a lion. It is a symbol of long life, wise government and happiness. The red colour particularly appealed to the Japanese. A shard with the same type of background motif of spirals and flowerheads as depicted in the medallions in the well of this dish was excavated on the site of the Dutch East India Company in Hirado. A dish with a phoenix near a giant peony in the centre and a similar border decoration is in the Seikado Bunko collection in Tokyo. The Princessehof dish was collected in Indonesia.
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