Accession Number
1963/2.62

Title
Blue-and-white plate with landscape design

Artist(s)
Japanese

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1615-1643

Medium & Support
porcelain, blue underglaze painting

Dimensions
1 ¼ in x 8 ¼ in x 8 ¼ in (3.18 cm x 20.96 cm x 20.96 cm);2 ¾ in x 8 11/16 in (6.99 cm x 22.07 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. Harry Packard for the James Marshall Plumer Memorial Collection

Label copy
Like the blue-and-white jar, this plate was produced during the early development of Japanese porcelain production. Here the beautiful milky-white surface perfected by Korean potters and the blue-and-white color scheme common in both Chinese and Korean ceramics are married to an austere Japanese aesthetic. The landscape painting on the plate artfully uses blank space to express the vastness of water and sky. The design corresponds to the taste for ink painting in the early seventeenth century.
(Label for UMMA Japanese Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)

Subject matter
The landscape of mountains, a lake, and fish boats under the moon is derived from Chinese landscape painting, perhaps from the Eight Views of the Hsiao-Hsiang District, a classic theme in Southern Sung ink painting.

Physical Description
A medium size plate has blue-and-white underglaze painting of landscape. There are two groups of mountains; one of the left has two large rocks flanked by two smaller mountains with a few trees on the tops. Three smaller rocks peek from the water. On the right side, a range of gently sloped mountains and a rock are drawn. There are two fishing boats with masts can be seen in front of the mountain range. The crescent moon, shadowed by one side, is in the sky. The drawing is executed in thick underglaze and painted in lighter glaze. There are brown speckles on the surface; reddish color stains on the top of the rim. Some chips on the rim and on the back. The foot is unglazed; eye is glazed. There is a single band around the rim.

Primary Object Classification
Ceramic

Primary Object Type
plate

Additional Object Classification(s)
Decorative Arts

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
boats
lakes (bodies of water)
landscapes (representations)
moons
mountains
plate (material)