LARGE DISH WITH FLOWERING PEONY DESIGN

Hizen ware, aode-Kokutani type; porcelain with overglaze enamels 
Japan, Edo period (1615−1868), ca. 1650
14½ in. (36.5 cm) diameter

This aode-Kokutani serving dish is decorated with a design of two large confronting stylized peonies, the blooms in a rare, thick blue glaze, the leaves in a rich, translucent green, which somewhat obscures the under drawing. The exterior is decorated with three stylized fan-and-ribbon motifs, and within the foot is an auspicious fuku (fortune) mark in a square covered with green enamel.

Scholars have speculated that the immediate source of the dark palette of colors, which includes green, yellow, purple, and blue, was seventeenth-century Ming-dynasty su sancai ware fired at the Zhangzhou kilns, Fujian Province. Chinese potters from this area may have traveled to Japan in the 1650s and served as advisors to the Yanbeta no. 3 kiln outside Arita.