Blue-and-white kraak style bowl with banana leaf and flowers

On display

The main overseas markets for Chinese porcelain during the early and mid-seventeenth century were Japan and the Netherlands. The Netherlands was an increasingly powerful maritime nation at that time, with a prosperous urban class.

Blue-and-white Chinese porcelain was a highly sought-after commodity and dishes, plates and cups were often depicted in Dutch still-life paintings. A bowl very similar to this piece appears in Still Life with an Oriental Rug by Willem Kalf (1619-1693) in the Daisy Linda Ward Gallery. This particular bowl was acquired by the Ashmolean in 1991 through exchange with the Groningen Museum and it is likely it had been in the Netherlands from the 17th century until that date.

Details

Title

Blue-and-white kraak style bowl with banana leaf and flowers
Associated place

Jingdezhen kilns (place of creation)

Netherlands (probable) (probable original location)
Date

1600 - 1640
Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)
Material and technique

porcelain, moulded, with underglaze painting in cobalt-blue
Material index

porcelain
Technique index

moulded;

painted;

glazed
Object type

bowl
Dimensions

5.7 cm (height)
21 cm (diameter)
No. of items

1
Credit line

Acquired by exchange with the Groningen Museum, 1991.
Museum location

Second floor | Gallery 38 | China from AD 800
Museum department

Eastern Art
Accession no.

EA1991.24