Blue-and-White Plate with Sea Wave and White Dragon Designs

This plate is decorated with white dragons and blue sea waves pattern. One dragon is painted in the center of the plate and two dragons are painted on the plate wall. On the bottom of the palte, six Chinese chararters in two lines read "made in Emperor Xuan De's reign of Ming Dynasy" are written inside two blue rings. The dragon was the most mysterious animal in Chinese legendary. People considered it as the symbol of luck, therefore the dragon design was used only for imperial family or ceremony. This plate was one of the representatives of imperial porcelain wares with dragon design in the Ming dynasty.