Dish on footring, spreading sides. Decorated in underglaze blue with six children playing in an enclosed garden, a cloudy sky above. On the sides four dragons each chasing a flaming pearl. The outside with four scalloped panels containing flower sprays, separated by single flower sprays. On the base the six-character mark Wanli in a double circle. The motif of playing children, charmingly depicted here, occurs frequently on porcelain dating from the end of the Jiajing period. In Daoism, popular under Jiajing, a playing child represents the innocence and impressionability to which the sage aspires. The Wanli mark on this dish indicates a manufacture date shortly after the beginning of this emperor’s reign (1573-1619).