KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The very rare scene on this dish appears to be unique, and depicts a group of figures, possibly foreigners, with curly hair. Ten figures holding scrolls or books gather in the large tree as two demons fly toward them, taking aim with bows and arrows. A blue-robed figure stands at the base of the tree looking at his companions above, with a further long-robed figure standing next to him and two attendants. On the other side of the tree, an attendant empties the contents of a bucket as another assists with a hoe-like tool. A third standing robed figure with a beaded necklace is shaded with an umbrella by an attendant.

While European armorials and decorative devices can be found on Chinese porcelains in the Ming dynasty, depictions of Europeans and foreigners rarely appear on Chinese porcelains before the Kangxi period (1662-1722). Some scenes were commissioned by European trading companies and private traders, while others, such as this scene, may have been taken from a foreign print or book source brought to China at the time. Figures of Europeans are more commonly found; the figures on the present dish, with receding hairlines and curly hair, appear to be more likely depict figures of near-eastern or middle-eastern descent. Similar representations appear on Chinese porcelains made later in the eighteenth century, such as a grisaille teapot and cover with a seated figure dressed in an open robe, with similar facial features and hair to those on the present dish, illustrated in F. and N. Hervouët, Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes, à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, no. 4.78.

Another possibility is that the scene could depict a gathering of some of the “500 Luohans.” The term luohan is the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word, arhat, which was originally a term referring to those who had achieved a high degree of enlightenment. As Tibetan Buddhism was adopted by the Qing Imperial court to be the primary religion, representations of luohans became popular in Chinese decorative arts in the 18th century. These figures are often depicted with curly hair and eyebrows, like the figures on the present dish. No exact source has yet to be identified, but an interesting 12th-century painting by Zhou Jichang in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, entitled Luohan watching the distribution of the relics, shows four luohan gazing up at three winged demons, suggesting that another visual source with luohans and demons could have been the inspiration for the rare scene on this dish (see https://collections.mfa.org/download/24139;jsessionid=B508032B4A00ED195ACACF5CFDFB56B3 for the painting in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).