A small Bow powder-blue porcelain Plate, circa 1765
The central circular medallion of this Bow powder-blue porcelain plate is painted with a pagoda and river in underglaze blue. Four fan-shaped panels around the edge are interspersed with four circular medallions, the former containing river island scenes, and the latter painted with flower-sprays.
Marked on the reverse with pseudo-Chinese characters in blue.
Provenance: As can be seen from the museum labels and catalogue entry, this plate was loaned to the 1989 Northern Ceramic Society exhibition ‘Oriental Expressions: The Influence of the Orient on British Ceramics’, held at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (number 38 in the exhibition catalogue).
Powder-blue decoration on porcelain was highly regarded during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722), and items such as this plate were an attempt by English manufacturers to emulate these earlier Chinese wares.
Condition: There are two chips to the rim, one with a short, associated hairline. The glaze has horizontal crazing in places and there are three tiny ‘stilt’ or spur marks to the rim, evidence of the manufacturing process in which the plates were stacked in the kiln for firing. There is a small patch of sanding / kiln grit on the reverse of the plate, also from production.
Dimensions: Diameter 18.5 cm
Bow Porcelain: The Collection formed by Geoffrey Freeman, A. Gabszewicz & G. Freeman (Lund Humphries, 1982).