Chinese Ming dynasty blue and white plate
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Department of the University of Pretoria Art
Abstract
Description
This round riffled porcelain plate with a foliate rim has a wave border on the fluted cavetto and is decorated with a ‘Parrot in fruit tree’ motif in the centre in underglaze blue-and-white. The base is sunken, glazed and marked with Chang Fuh ming kwei (Wealth, honour, long life) 4-character mark in blue. This common inscription, in the shape of a ‘cash’ coin is characteristically sixteenth century. These plates were press-moulded with a central painted panel of parrots in a pomegranate tree. According to Mr Van Tilburg this was the only complete plate to come from the wreck of the Portuguese ship, the São Bento, which sank near the mouth of the Msikaba River on the Pondoland coast in 1554.
Keywords
porcelain