The scoop on the dish

What could possibly be fascinating about a fancy old dish? Shipwrecks, wars, stolen ideas, gunpowder and money are all part of the story. Read on.

The dish to your left is close to 300 years old. It was created before the United States existed. Its journey began in China and from there it traveled, most likely by ship, to Europe. From there it is a mystery who owned it and used it, but eventually it wended its way to a gallery in Atlanta, Ga., where it was purchased by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Now it sits upon a shelf observing passers-by. Small students peer into its protective cabinet attempting to decipher the hidden symbols within.

Chinese Export Porcelain was, and still is, made in China specifically for the export market. Beginning with the Portuguese in the 16th century, trade between China and Europe increased over the following 400 years through Dutch, British and then American trade companies.

The ornate surface treatment on this dish is the direct result of Western demand. Chinese artists and clients preferred a simpler aesthetic with plenty of white space left around a single subject.

The painting on this piece is not precisely symmetrical, but seems to be because of the two rocket forms on either side of the central flower-like rosette. They appear to be stylized firecrackers that might have been used used during celebrations such as Chinese New Year. Their distinctive arrow shapes, the trailing ribbons, and the fiery lines from their tails create a clockwise motion in the dish. The flowers are stylized chrysanthemums (the target-shaped ones on the left), the emblem of autumn and symbol of joviality and peonies (the fluffy-looking ones on the right), which symbolize spring, wealth and good luck.

Experts on Chinese ceramics identify and categorize pieces by looking at the marks on the undersides of works. Although there are exceptions, most Chinese ceramics can be categorized by reign marks, seal marks and emblems. The marks change, depending on where, when and by which pottery the work was made.

The mark on the underside of this piece is classified as an emblem because it has characteristics that are typical of other emblems on ceramic ware of this type and period. Such emblems depicted commonly known subjects (see inset, p. 24) and were inscribed inside a double circle, as is the symbol on the back of this piece. This dish can be traced through its mark to the Kangxi (pronounced CONG-see) period, which was named after the Chinese Emperor Kangxi who ruled 1662-1722.

Emblems, in place of royal reign or seal marks, were required in 1677 by the Chinese magistrate of Jingdezhen (the ceramic center of China from the 4th century to the 19th century) in case exported objects broke, thus possibly defiling the Emperor's name.

This piece was created in a factory by many people, each with a specialized talent. One potter might form the bowl, either through casting the clay in a mold or hand-forming it on a potter's wheel. Another group of workers might be solely responsible for firing kilns. Yet another individual might have painted the underglaze design, then another may have applied the clear glaze. Still others may have painted the intricate enamel designs in green, yellow, red and gold on top of the glaze.

This style of painting is called "Imari," (pronounced ee-MAR-ee) which comes from the name of the port where Japanese porcelain was shipped beginning in the 17th century. The Imari style of decoration originated with Korean potters who had been captured in the late 1500s by the Japanese. Some Koreans who were brought to the island of Kyushu created work with a characteristic blue-and-white design painted under a clear glaze.

Early Imari ware was only blue and White. Later, colorful enamels were added on top of the clear glaze. The blend of these two techniques produced the resulting colorful and complex surface designs (such as in the dish to your left) that became very popular in Europe. As the export trade boomed, European demand for Japanese Imari ware became too great for the Japanese producers, and competing Chinese potters took over the export porcelain trade.

Much of the trade was accomplished over land by caravan on the "silk road" from China to Europe, but some was also done by boat and occasionally the cargo ships sank. The tremendous finds from these shipwrecks have been instrumental in tracing origins and production methods for whole groups of work, discovered by the tens of thousands at the bottom of the sea.

The ceramics trade was very profitable for Asian and European traders, especially the Dutch. Although the financial gain was great, of greater significance to the art world was the trading of ideas through Korea, China, Japan and then Europe and the Americas. Such cross-pollination of ideas has served to influence art making today.

Potters still mine their own clay in some places, but fine porcelain can now be purchased in perfect condition from factories all over the world. The bright colors on ceramic work today can be traced directly back to technologies developed by potters working long ago.