Chinese Porcelain Master Of The Rocks Dish Kangxi Blue And White Qing Dynasty Antique 17th C

A Chinese porcelain blue and white “Master of the Rocks” dish.
Lozenge mark within a double circle, early Kangxi period ca. 1680-1700.

Hand painted in underglaze blue. The center decorated within a double circle depicting a river landscape with three small figures in a natural landscape with mountains in washes of cobalt blue, layered rocks, trees, houses, a fisherman in a boat on the foreground, a fishing boat in the background underneath flying birds with clouds and a moon. The border decorated with a pine needle band alternated by blobby dots. The back is decorated with bamboo on the border and the base is marked with a Lozenge mark.

We have three more Master of the Rocks style dishes (see photo) in our inventory in the same style with the same mark. DM us for more info.

About “The Master of the Rocks”:
The "Master of the Rocks” is a term coined by English collector Gerard Reitlinger. It is a distinct group of late Transitional and early Kangxi porcelain, whereby short, overlapping curved lines create complex impressions. The “Master of the Rocks” is characterized by the painting style of Dong Qichang, a painter of the late Ming period. Here the human elements are almost lost in the exuberant natural scene, a venerated theme in traditional Chinese landscape painting that underwent a revival at this time.

Ref:
A dish from the same period and of the same style but with a censer mark is in the Ashmoleon Museum collection, Inv. No. EA1978.842 (gift of Gerald Reitlinger, 1978). 

Another dish, also with a lozenge mark but of larger size and with a continuous scene without border decoration is in the Sir Michael Butler collection, Inv. No. 1432 and is published in ‘Leaping the Dragon Gate’ by Teresa Canepa and Katherine Butler, p. 416 pl. III.4.66a-c.

Another dish, from the same period and of the same style but with a six-character Chenghua mark is in the collection of Jan Menze van Diepen Stichting, Inv. No. JMD-P-2233 and is published  in ‘Jan Menze van Diepen Stichting, A Selection from the Collection of Oriental Ceramics’ by Christiaan J.A. Jörg.

Dimensions:
Diameter 21.5 cm, height 3.5 cm.

Condition:
The outer rim with fritting, the foot rim with some small chipping - furthermore in excellent condition.

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Inv. No: MW6-2