35.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ FOUR-LOBED TRAY
Ming dynasty, Tianqi-Chongzhen period
17,4 x 17,4 cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 4230.
Explicitly produced in Jingdezhen to be exported to Japan, the ko-sometsuke porcelain (literally “old blue and white”) has usually shapes which not belong to the traditional repertory of Chinese ceramists, and they are instead adapted to Japanese taste. In turn, as in this case, often the decoration is in pure Chinese style, realized however in a more sketchy manner.
This tray is probably a jikiroku, a “food vessel”, used as a part of the kaiseki, the light food course occurring during the Tea Ceremony (Chanoyu). Its shape, with each of the four lobs divided in five segments, recalls in some ways the inventions of Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), one of most revered Japanese Tea Master active between the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth century (Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan, exhibition catalogue edited by M. Murase, New York 2004).
