Blue and White Plate with a Horseman beneath a Pine, Ming Dynasty

PP-0141

Description

A large blue and white porcelain plate with rounded sides and a narrow rim. In the centre, within a blue ring, a bearded man in a tall winged hat and flowing robes sits on a spotted horse, holding a round object at his chest. Behind him rises a pine with a scaly trunk, with bamboo and tufts of grass at the horse's feet. The cavetto is painted with a peony scroll, the large blooms shown full face among leafy stems. The blue is deep and saturated, with darker spots where it pooled.

The outside carries a band of panels divided by groups of lines, each with a cluster of blue dots. The base is unglazed within a low foot ring, showing a warm orange-brown body with darker flecks, and there is no mark. Our Ming dynasty page gives the background.