Dish with oxen design in underglaze blue and polychrome enamels

The piece, designated for export to the Japanese market, was produced by a private kiln in Jingdezhen in the late Ming dynasty. It is decorated with patterns of cows, rocks and trunks in underglaze cobalt blue, and overglazed with elements such as huts, grass, and leaves. However, the two layers do not seem to be on the same surface and look as if they were painted rather spontaneously. In fact, the glaze on rims for this type of export porcelain wares were often dented. This earned them the name of “the worn-eaten pattern” in Japan, and the imperfections were often covered up with a layer of brown glaze. The illustration on the ware features two cows— the calf rubbing against the rock, and the larger one bowing his head to express concern. This corresponds to the Chinese idiom, “a cow dotes on her calf”, which describes deep parental love and is based on the conversation between Father Yang and Cao Cao after the latter killed Yang Xiu in the Biography of Yang Xiu, the Book of the Later Han.