A powder blue and underglaze red plate

Chinese porcelain plate with a flat rim, decorated in powder blue and underglaze red. The plate features a recessed figure in the center, a fighting monk, and three bamboo branches painted on the underside of the rim. The underside is marked with a flower in a double circle.

A similar plate is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (object number AK-RBK-15847) (link) and is illustrated on the cover of Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum. The authors suggest that the figure depicts Lu Zhishen, also known as the “Flowery Monk,” a fictional character from the classic Chinese novel Water Margin (Shuihu Zhuan). Lu Zhishen is one of the 36 Heavenly Spirits, ranked 13th, and is famous for his single-stick fighting.

Period: Kangxi (1661 - 1722) 
Width: 26.2 cm 

Price: €14.500

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