This kraak-style bowl, called kraaikop, with high, moulded sides and upturned, lobed rim is decorated in underglaze blue with eight panels of different peach and flower sprays divided by narrow ones with beaded pendants around a central medallion with a bird on a rock on the inside and eight similar panels with birds, bamboo and flowers divided by narrow panels with beaded pendants on the outside. The base is sunken, glazed and unmarked. The Dutch called these bowls kraaikoppen (crow cups) after the bird in the centre inside. The term kraak usually refers to a type of late Ming export blue and white porcelain which is decorated with a central design incorporating birds, animals and, or, figures set in a landscape, with radiating panels containing Buddhist symbols, flowers and formal patterns. This type of Wan Li porcelain was first brought to Europe by Portuguese trading ships known as Carracks, which to the Dutch sounded like their word for “cracks”, which were often found in these very thin bowls and hence the vulgarised Dutch word kraakporseleijn. It found particular favour in Holland and is frequently included in 17th century Dutch still-life paintings.