Of deep form the massive porcelain dish has rounded sides and a flat, expansive interior, the bottom decorated in the center with three rams in a hilly landscape setting. One ram is facing head on while those flanking him face inward. Each has a distinctive wool pattern and is depicted with a rather capricious expression. A tall, undulant rock looms on one side next to a flowering quince, the bulky trunk twisting behind the rock, one of its branches soaring above the three rams. Scattered landscape elements and a small sun in the upper left complete the scene. The central composition is enclosed by a double-line border and framed by the undecorated cavetto. Eight carefully drawn floral panels on alternating wave and coin diaper-patterned grounds decorate the wide band beneath the lip. The exterior is painted with three large blossoming quince branches heavy with thorns and dispersed between them are insects and moon slivers. The beveled foot ring, decorated with a scroll design, encloses the unglazed slightly domed base. The cobalt is a greyish-blue color, applied with outline and wash in varied tones and multiple types of texture strokes. Spattering of iron particles along with minor irregularities characterize the glaze, which has also fritted on the rim. The unglazed base has burned a buff-tan color and exhibits chatter marks.
The subject of this design, Sanyang, “Three Rams,” signifies good fortune in China where it is a popular theme especially during the New Year’s season, its efficacy here supported by the flowering quince which blossoms at the beginning of the year. Five comparable dishes in the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul are illustrated or referred to by Regina Krahl (figs. 1-3).1 Interestingly, two of these dishes are described as having the rarely seen quince in the mouth rim border panels. Dating to the mid-16th century, these hardy and hefty dishes are precursors to the late Ming export wares—the kraak ware destined for many shores and kososmetsuke, most particularly for Japan. It is rather an anomaly that platters decorated with this very “Chinese” subject should be found primarily in the Middle East. How was the subject matter of these dishes interpreted in the Muslim world? Perhaps these porcelains would have stimulated, unlike the philosophical appetite of the Chinese, the actual appetites of their Muslim owners.
1. See Regina Krahl (with Nurdan Erbahar and John Ayers): Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II (Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains), London, 1986, p. 613.
Fig. 1: Large underglaze-blue decorated dish with “sanyang” décor, Ming dynasty, mid-16th century A.D., Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, after Regina Krahl (with Nurdan Erbahar and John Ayers): Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul vol. II (Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains), London, 1986, no. 855, p. 613.
Fig. 2: Large underglaze-blue decorated dish with “sanyang” décor, Ming dynasty, mid 16th century A.D., Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, after Regina Krahl (with Nurdan Erbahar and John Ayers): Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul vol. II (Yuan and Ming Dynasty Porcelains), London, 1986, no. 856, p. 613.
Fig. 3: Detail of fig. 2.