JIAJING SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1522-1566)

The theme of gamboling Buddhist lions is frequently seen on late Ming ceramics but usually less finely rendered. Compare two slightly smaller dishes in the British Museum decorated with the same decorative motif but omitting the zabao, decorated in green enamel on an iron-red ground, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 256, nos. 9:95 and 9:96. Another single dish of the same pattern, also with green enamel on an iron-red ground in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics. A New Comprehensive Survey, London, 1996, no. 457. The decoration on these three examples is much looser and less controlled than on the present dish.
Although a lot of experimentation took place with different colour combinations during the Jiajing period, the visually very pleasing combination of underglaze blue and iron-red is surprisingly rare and few extant examples are recorded.