Small dish on footring, flat rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a bird of prey on a rock. Above clouds and a moon. On the rim a scalloped band. The reverse is undecorated. Kiln-sand adhering to the base. Ko-sometsuke for the Japanese market (see cat. 33). As on kraak porcelain, the motif of a bird of prey in flight or perched on a rock occurs in several variations (see cat. 27), but is depicted here with a minimum of surrounding detail, ensuring the bird is the focus of attention. The representation had a double meaning in China: the word for ‘eagle’ (ying) is homophonous with the first syllable of the word for ‘hero’; thus an unequalled hero is depicted here (Wang). This exemplifies the way in which Chinese artists incorporated puns when decorating porcelain and other artifacts.