Plate on footring, flat rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a landscape of mountains, a river and trees. On the plateau at right three tiny figures, a fishing boat on the river, a shelter on poles on the bank. On the rim a pattern of pine needles and dots. On the reverse (twice){mk/chk} a stylised river scene with mountains. On the base the six-character mark Chenghua in a double circle. The landscape is painted in the style of ‘the master of the rocks’ (see. Cat. 49), whereby short, overlapping curved lines create complex impressions. The human elements (the three figures, the boat and the shelter) are almost lost in the exuberant natural scene, a venerated theme in traditional Chinese landscape painting that underwent a revival at this time. The dots on the rim are characteristic of late 17th-century Kangxi porcelain. Such plates are common and were also exported to the West.