A MASSIVE SAFAVID BLUE AND WHITE BOWL with rounded sides and slightly everted rim, the white ground of the interior painted in blue and black with a large central roundel depicting a Chinese-style scene of a heron on a lake, shore with birds, insects and trees, within a stylised wave border, a similarly painted band around the upper edge showing further lakeside scenes, the exterior richly painted in the same style and colours with two pairs of fighting dragons, three eagles and two herons in extensive lakeside scenery, simulated Chinese mark on base, early 17th century (firing crack in base, some cracks in rim)