Saucer
(c. 1752)
Medium
porcelain (soft-paste)
Measurements
11.5 cm diameter
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Patricia Begg OAM Bequest, 2024
© Public Domain
Gallery location
17th & 18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
The decorative elements on this dish copy those of a Japanese Kakiemon dish that was produced for the European market but which were ultimately drawn from a Chinese vocabulary of symbols. These motifs were commonly used on Japanese objects, and include the curled water dragon in the centre, a salamander-like creature that was auspiciously associated with water, cranes, the flaming tortoise, and the so-called ‘three friends of winter’ – bamboo, pine and plum blossom.