Bowl

Chinese potters were producing porcelain vessels centuries before their European counterparts. By the late 16th century, the Portuguese were trading with the Chinese for exotic luxuries like porcelain. The demand for this highly refined, hard, translucent ceramic was so great in Asia, Europe, and New Spain that hundreds of kilns and countless potters and decorators were employed in the city of Jingdezhen in central eastern China making wares for export. Potential profits from dealing in Asian luxury goods were thought to be so great that several European nations eventually established monopolistic merchant companies to control this commerce. The Dutch East India Company, which was founded in 1602, became the main purveyor of porcelain to Europe after 1620, the year the Dutch took over Formosa (now Taiwan). The Dutch imported blue and white ware of the kind seen here in such large quantities that it is now known as "Kraak" porcelain, after the type of ship in which it was transported.

The underglaze blue decoration on this bowl dates it to the 1640s. A potted peony bush symbolizing spring, love, and feminine beauty is depicted on the interior's bottom. On the inner wall are six panels containing stylized peach branches. The peach is believed to ward off evil and represents springtime, marriage, and immortality. The six exterior panels contain scenes featuring bamboo, flowers, and birds.

"Decorative Arts Highlights from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection," page 92