Dish

In the second half of the 17th century, Portuguese faience was marked by an original adaptation of oriental symbols combined with traditional values, in which dishes with a decoration of aranhões (literally, “big spiders”, the corrupted Portuguese drawing of the Chinese artemisia leaf) were a characteristic feature. In the decoration of the bottom of this dish, use is made of a profusely decorated anthropomorphic form, consisting of a female figure that is probably a figuration alluding to the wind.
The dish, moulded from glazed white faience, has four blue “aranhões” on its rim, outlined in manganese, which alternate with four bulbous flowers. On the back of the rim are four sets of "SS" patterns painted in blue.