Dish - Enamel, Copper - Imperial Canton Email

Of large size and circular shape with a polylobed edge, resting on three bronze feet of origin. The interior adorned at the bottom with a lively scene of literati in a palace garden — books, wenfang attributes, the moon gate, the scholar’s rock — in the company of four mang dragons with four-colored claws weaving among the foaming waves (haishui longwen). The wing on a yellow ground decorated with peony scrolls and ruyi cartouches. The finely painted reverse of the sanduo motif (pomegranate, peach, citron, symbols of abundance) and peonies around a central medallion with blue scrolls, the celadon band with blue rocaille scrolls, the wing with plum blossom and bamboo branches.

The yellow background associated with princely rank dragons suggests an ornate commission; comparable Canton enamel works were presented in tribute to the imperial court by Guangdong customs.

Diameter: about 40 cm.

Significant enamel damage and losses, notably at the center of the basin and on the reverse; network of crazing; the remaining decoration retains great freshness.